Now that I have rewatched the game...

Originally posted by NineFourNiner:

Originally posted by Leathaface:
It's funny to me that people think there are glaring problems on D when the offense has turned the ball over 15 f**king times. The problems on D are a result of the offenses inability to move the ball consistently and the offenses propensity to turn the ball over.

That explains why Kolb and an RB with broken ribs carved 'em up on Sunday?

The defense gave up 20 pts. 7 of which came on a drive that started from midfield. They were consistently put in bad spots.

The defense got a 4th down stop after another offensive turnover.

The defense is put under such strict scrutiny bc we're having to rely on them so much because of the offenses ineptitude.

The defense is getting enough stops to give the offense a chance.

15 turnovers. If you can't realize that the turnovers by THE OFFENSE are the reason we're losing, you don't understand football and there's nothing left to discuss.

Originally posted by ttime1:

Originally posted by Marvin49:
Ya know, its amazing what can happen when you rewatch a game and alot of the tension is removed. You see things quite a bit differently. I think you end up seeing things the way fans of other teams see them.

Anyway....many things stood out.

1) The play of Alex Smith
2) The playcalling of Mike Johnson
3) The Play of Michael Crabtree
4) The problems on D.

1) Alex: This is well covered territory and I know I'm not breaking any ground here, but I watched him very closely when I watched the game again. I know this won't be popular, but he actually played pretty damn well even before the argument with Singletary.

I was on the verge of calling for the Yorks to blow the team up and waive goodbye to Alex, but now I'm not so sure.

He made 2 mistakes. One was the INT on the deep pass to Ginn. Ya, it wasn't a great pass, but those things are low % throws so I can't blame him for taking the shot we have been wanting him to take all season. It would also help if Ginn made more of an effort on the ball, but it was still not a great throw and was Alex's fault. The theres the fumble. No excuse. Horrible. He'd be the first to tell you that. That simply can't happen. Period. The final INT of the game tho was really Anthony Davis fault. If you watch, Alex makes the decision to throw the ball BEFORE the DE breaks free of Davis. Alex didn't have a chance.

Other than that tho....he looked GOOD. I mean REALLY good. If you don't believe me, watch the game again. The drives that stalled did so because of turnovers. The Niners punted only ONCE until there were 5 minutes left in the THIRD quarter. Alex was hitting passes on third down. He was hitting passes for 15 and 20 yards, so they weren't just checkdowns. He was hitting Crabtree, Ginn, Davis, Morgan, Gore....he was getting EVERYONE involved. He hit Ginn for almost 20 yards on a 3rd and ONE. He hit Davis for about 25 yards on 3rd and 15.

After the confrontation with Sing, he was even better.

Smith is everyones favorite scapegoat. To be fair he has at times made it easy to scapegoat him. Sunday tho....he played pretty damn well. If you don't believe me, watch the game again.



2) Johnson: I was reading yesterday that there were peeps here who were critical of MJs playcalling. WATCH THE GAME AGAIN. He was AGGRESSIVE. The Niners punted ONCE until 5 min left in the 3rd quarter and only punted 3 times in the entire game. One of those punts came after three consecutive incomplete passes. EVERY SINGLE ONE of the turnovers happened on a drive in which the 49ers had gotten a first down. They were moving the ball. The second Gore fumble was after back to back playes of 25 yards (pass to Davis) and 17 yards (run by Gore).

After watching this game again, I am not concerned at all about the playcalling.


3) Crabtree: Crabtree started to look like the guy who played at Texas Tech. The attribute of his game that has been missing so far is his run-after-catch ability. He showed it on some nifty plays down the sideline. He also ran a great route and made a great catch on his TD. What strikes me the most tho are the length of his arms. LOL. Serously...he looks like a freak. Watch him when he puts his arms up after scoring the TD...I swear to got he could fly with those things...lol.


4) The D: This is the one that concerns me. They to often find themselves out of position and have a reciever running through the secondary with nobody within 5-10 yards of them. Kolb looked good, but when a guy is that open, its pretty hard to miss them. The run D has also been showing some cracks of late. Some have said that WIllis may be hurt, but I don't think thats it. I think he's getting covered up by lionemen more than in the past. He hasn't been able to run free. I dunno if thats something offenses are doing or if its the D not protecting him. I just hope they fix it.

I'm also concerned about Mays. Its not that he played poorly. He just seems a step slow right now (although he caused the fumble that the Eagles recovered). Its not about his potential...I'm just not sure he was ready to play. We'll see and I hope he proves me wrong.

Alex leads the league in turnovers and the statistic that matters most; losses. True A.D. ciuld andshould have and should have blocked better on that last int. But guess what, the team would not have even been in that postion if Alex hits a WIDE OPEN Gore on a simple swing pass that would have went for big yards if not a TD. I don't want to hear that the defensive player did his job to disrupt the play. That is what they get paid to do (except SOAP- who rarely makes ANY plays). It was Alex's job to hit a wide open Gore. So, personally I don't care how many times anyone watches the game and attenpts to justify the results; Alex needs to have a strong team behind him in order to win; of which he does not have. He is no better than JT who was benched but at least won. He is no better than Hill who at least won. Just as they were benched, Alex should be benched too.

The same goes for Gore. All too often he has let this team down when needed; two fumbles? Remember when the blade of grass tackled him at the goal line a few years ago? He needs to sit too.

Yes...he has 9 INTs. 6 of them are on tipped passes, but still, I understand he is respobsible for them. As for the losses...thats kinda my entire point. A QB will ALWAYS get too much credit or too much blame for wins and losses. If a perfectly fine pass bounces off a recievers shoulder into the air and is picked off, whos fault is that? Doesn't matter, the QB takes the blame.

My point here is that Alex isn't alone. He's just as inconsistant as the rest of the team. We could always get consistancy by putting in Carr, but it would be consistantly BAD.

Originally posted by Leathaface:

Originally posted by NineFourNiner:

Originally posted by Leathaface:
It's funny to me that people think there are glaring problems on D when the offense has turned the ball over 15 f**king times. The problems on D are a result of the offenses inability to move the ball consistently and the offenses propensity to turn the ball over.

That explains why Kolb and an RB with broken ribs carved 'em up on Sunday?

The defense gave up 20 pts. 7 of which came on a drive that started from midfield. They were consistently put in bad spots.

The defense got a 4th down stop after another offensive turnover.

The defense is put under such strict scrutiny bc we're having to rely on them so much because of the offenses ineptitude.

The defense is getting enough stops to give the offense a chance.

15 turnovers. If you can't realize that the turnovers by THE OFFENSE are the reason we're losing, you don't understand football and there's nothing left to discuss.

bulls**t. when it matters (last 2 minutes of the 4th qtr), they play like ass.

Originally posted by 49Fever:
Yeah great posts
I see all of you are very optimistic
as i am for sure
11-5
division winner maybe SB champs
Go niners

Never said that. Never even talked about wins and losses.

All I said was that Alex played well outside of the fumble, MJ called a good game, Crabtree looked really good, and the defense struggled.

Did re-watching the game change to score?

I'M GETTING SICK OF TRYING TO JUSTIFY THE POOR PLAY OF THIS ENTIRE TEAM.

Its not that Smith doesn't play well at times...he does. It's that if you give him enough rope he will hang himself over and over again. His turnovers and miscues have cost the team 3 games this season. I thought Collinsworth did a great job of pointing out some of the things he is doing wrong and how tentative he plays. (i.e. not throwing the ball to VD on the blitz that resulted in the fumble and throwing a mid range route when Ted Ginn was wide open for a TD).

Originally posted by Leathaface:

Originally posted by NineFourNiner:

Originally posted by Leathaface:
It's funny to me that people think there are glaring problems on D when the offense has turned the ball over 15 f**king times. The problems on D are a result of the offenses inability to move the ball consistently and the offenses propensity to turn the ball over.

That explains why Kolb and an RB with broken ribs carved 'em up on Sunday?

The defense gave up 20 pts. 7 of which came on a drive that started from midfield. They were consistently put in bad spots.

The defense got a 4th down stop after another offensive turnover.

The defense is put under such strict scrutiny bc we're having to rely on them so much because of the offenses ineptitude.

The defense is getting enough stops to give the offense a chance.

15 turnovers. If you can't realize that the turnovers by THE OFFENSE are the reason we're losing, you don't understand football and there's nothing left to discuss.

If you don't see the D is ONE of the reason we are losing, then YOU don't understand football.

Yes, of COURSE, turnovers are KILLING us. No question.

That doesn't change the fact that they have THREE TIMES NOW (twice in the Alanta game) let an offense drive down the field and win the game. They also allowed over 200 yards rushing to the Chiefs.

Nobody is saying its ALL the D, but they have their part in this.

The Smith apologists blow my mind....

So what you guys are saying is that the best game of his career was a loss in which he had 3 turnovers.

I mean, I guess I have to agree but that fact speaks volumes to his ineptitude as a QB in this league.

I'm tired of this and I'm not going to let him go free of blame for another game/week/season.

He's garbage pure and simple. Good QB's know how to win games and eliminate turnovers, no matter what the circumstances. He can't do either. Let's also remember that he's got an abundance of talent around.

Everyone can look good sometimes. His bright spots are far too infrequent, too inconsistent and never come through when the game's on the line.

Originally posted by Nes49:
Did re-watching the game change to score?

I'M GETTING SICK OF TRYING TO JUSTIFY THE POOR PLAY OF THIS ENTIRE TEAM.

LOL...

That right there is the definition of "Missing the Point".

Moving on....

Originally posted by Marvin49:

2) Johnson: I was reading yesterday that there were peeps here who were critical of MJs playcalling. WATCH THE GAME AGAIN. He was AGGRESSIVE. The Niners punted ONCE until 5 min left in the 3rd quarter and only punted 3 times in the entire game. One of those punts came after three consecutive incomplete passes. EVERY SINGLE ONE of the turnovers happened on a drive in which the 49ers had gotten a first down. They were moving the ball. The second Gore fumble was after back to back playes of 25 yards (pass to Davis) and 17 yards (run by Gore).

After watching this game again, I am not concerned at all about the playcalling.

I agree with you on most of your points, but not on this. Johnson was only aggressive after running for scant yardage up the middle on pretty much every first down in the first half.

Try watching the game again and pause it right before the ball is snapped each play - then "guess" if the Niners will run or pass. I bet you'll guess correctly almost every time. Then take a look at Philly's D, and how they're filling the box. Yep, they they know it too.

It's been pretty well established (from week one) how to stop the Niners offense: load the box on early downs early in the game. Regardless of how poorly the Niners are running the ball, they will continue to try to pound it up the middle, until they are down multiple scores. This will result in lots of second and third and long's, where you can take advantage of the young O-line and a non-superstar QB.

Yes, attempting to establish the running game is important, but not when the other team knows it's coming. Then, it's just stubborn and counterproductive.

If you told me Jimmy was back in the coaching box on Sunday, I'd believe you.

Originally posted by Marvin49:

Originally posted by Nes49:
Did re-watching the game change to score?

I'M GETTING SICK OF TRYING TO JUSTIFY THE POOR PLAY OF THIS ENTIRE TEAM.

LOL...

That right there is the definition of "Missing the Point".

Moving on....

Sorry, still angry....but should we do from here on out?

[ Edited by Nes49 on Oct 12, 2010 at 10:27:24 ]

Originally posted by cortana49:

Originally posted by Marvin49:

Originally posted by 49AllTheTime:
On the deep INT to Ginn, the wind pushed the ball towards the sidelines.

I was sitting in the south endzone and just seen the ball start curving to the right.

the wind was blowing in every direction that night

Interesting. You can't see that on TV..it just looks poorly thrown. I'll watch again to see if Ginn reacts to the movement of the ball.

You mean Ginn actually looked for the ball when it was in the air?

LOL! Seriously. That is the ONE receiver we have that shouldn't be the option on that play.

Thank you! For once no LAZY opinions/reaction from a fan. Good points!

Originally posted by Leathaface:

Originally posted by NineFourNiner:

Originally posted by Leathaface:
It's funny to me that people think there are glaring problems on D when the offense has turned the ball over 15 f**king times. The problems on D are a result of the offenses inability to move the ball consistently and the offenses propensity to turn the ball over.

That explains why Kolb and an RB with broken ribs carved 'em up on Sunday?

The defense gave up 20 pts. 7 of which came on a drive that started from midfield. They were consistently put in bad spots.

The defense got a 4th down stop after another offensive turnover.

The defense is put under such strict scrutiny bc we're having to rely on them so much because of the offenses ineptitude.

The defense is getting enough stops to give the offense a chance.

15 turnovers. If you can't realize that the turnovers by THE OFFENSE are the reason we're losing, you don't understand football and there's nothing left to discuss.

Bro - you just changed the argument.

The issue was this: "The problems on D are a result of the offenses inability to move the ball consistently and the offenses propensity to turn the ball over." (i.e. - the OFFENSE is causing the DEFENSE to play poorly)

But you changed it to this: "the turnovers by THE OFFENSE are the reason we're losing..."

Two different issues. But, hey, thanks for the condescension!

Originally posted by NinerPrideinNJ:
The Smith apologists blow my mind....

So what you guys are saying is that the best game of his career was a loss in which he had 3 turnovers.

I mean, I guess I have to agree but that fact speaks volumes to his ineptitude as a QB in this league.

I'm tired of this and I'm not going to let him go free of blame for another game/week/season.

He's garbage pure and simple. Good QB's know how to win games and eliminate turnovers, no matter what the circumstances. He can't do either. Let's also remember that he's got an abundance of talent around.

Everyone can look good sometimes. His bright spots are far too infrequent, too inconsistent and never come through when the game's on the line.

...and the Smith haters drive me nuts. No matter what the guy does, you would hate him. I'm not saying he's the best QB in the world, I'm just saying that he played well. If you were OBJECTIVE, then you would see that.