Originally posted by backontop:My recollection is that Iupati and Baas seemed to have some major communication issues early on. It is only in the past 3 or 4 games that they seemed to have put it all together.Originally posted by Joecool:Originally posted by backontop:Originally posted by Joecool:Originally posted by backontop:Originally posted by Joecool:
Johnson was proven correct in Alexs earlier starts under him that the deep plays were called. Alex never pulled the trigger. His arm may as well be as strong as Hills if he ain't going to throw the damn ball.
He also didn't have the time in the pocket to actually work through his progressions. If you recall he was pretty much running for his life on every play(notice I said practically so please don't give me some BS about oh on this one play he had all day bla bla bla) Alex Smith was at the time of his injury the most hit and hurried QB in the league. I am not sure if he still holds that wonderful statistic. His ability to take what the defense gave him ie. the check down to Gore is what kept him from having outragious sack numbers. Troy Smith on the other hand did not have that ability. Troy Smith took 3 more sacks in 3 less games than Alex Smith.
I already broke down one game having watched it three times with a back and forth with oldman and Alexs big problem is pocket awareness. He refuses to shift to the cushion of the pocket. In that game, there were multiple times when he had a three yard cushion to hist front, right, back but decided to stay put and be "pressured" by the end to his left where a slight shift would have allowed staley to push the end ou further. Troy Smith showed much better pocket awareness an movemen within the pocket to extend the plays. His problem was that he'd try to extend it too long. Winding give this speal abot Alex and pressure. A lot of it is self inflicted as are Troy Smiths sack numbers.
Pocket awareness?If Alex "shifts" forward he usually gets sacked by who ever is in front of Rachal. If he shifts anywhere in the pocket he gets sacked. There was nowhere for him to "shift" to on many occasions. Let's take the PHL game, last play, where should Alex have shifted then? Oh that's right when the defense is in your face before you even complete your 3-5-7 step drop it's kind of hard to "shift" I don't know how many times I have counted less than 3 seconds before Smith was running for his life. You don't become the most hit and hurried QB because you don't "shift" forward into a non existent pocket.
The front of our OL has been blocking very well. If you haven't been aware, most of the pressures this year has been from the edges. Our OL has had it's bad games but it has been up and down with some damn good games. Alex Smith has terrible pocket awareness and RARELY shifts in the pocket. There's a reason why Troy was able to drop back move a little and get four seconds. So you're saying our OL only now started blocking well. Most QBs understand how to avoid the initial pressure except Alex. Defenses also know that the initial pressure isn't the most important.
the front of the line? No David Baas and Iupati have been performing well. Staley, Rachal and Davis have been complete garbage! And the last time I checked the RG being Chilo Rachal is in the middle of the line.
Davis had given up the most sacks in the league, but the last two games he played much better.
Rachal has also made a marked improvement the last two weeks though he keeps getting nicked up.
LT has been a problem all year.
To get back to Johnson on a related matter; I don't know if it is all Johnson's influence or Solari or what, but the 49ers are gradually getting away from so much man blocking schemes. With man it puts a great deal of pressure on each player to win a one-on-one battle with the guy across the line from them. If one fails the entire play breaks down...and it has frequently. With zone, the line can shift back and forth and create better running and passing lanes without so much pressure on each individual.
It is sometimes hard to detect which scheme the team is using if all you have is what is shown on the TV. I listen to the radio first and Gary Plummer is very good about pointing out zone schemes. More and more, good things seem to happen when the zone is being used...and that has been the majority of the time in the past 2 or 3 games. Hence I believe that is a good part of why the OL has looked better.
