Box score: alex 9/15 and it sounded like a repeat of last yr. Then I saw the game on NFL..

Originally posted by bzborow1:

Originally posted by dj43:

I look at that INT in much the same way as the NO game: The opponent threw something at us that is not usually done in a PS game but it did give us something to look at and work on.

Zone blitzes were DESIGNED to counter the WCO. As such, by Oakland throwing it up there, it gave Alex and Harbaugh a chance to see it and make a correction. Hence, I expect Harbaugh will make the adjustment to the read just like he changed the blocking scheme after the NO debacle.

Sometimes you learn more from your failures than you do from your successes.

Good point. I'm not sold on Alex at all, and likely won't until he puts together a string of successful outings. On the other hand, I feel this years offense is being coached better and it is refreshing to see a 49ers offense actually making adjustments to what defenses are doing. This is encouraging news for 49ers from a long-term perspective. I'm not sure how it'll translate to early success this year, however.

None other than Joe Montana put it best, have patience. This is a work in progress...

Originally posted by BobS:
Wow, starters vs starters we led the RAIDERS 3-0 at halftime of a preseason game and that is enough to predict this is going to be the best team we have seen in a long time? Three elite running backs?

LOL people seem to forget what we did to the raiders last year, We imposed our WILL and look where that got us in the reg season with our "power running game".

We still have alot of work to do.

Originally posted by 49AllTheTime:

Originally posted by SJniner7:

Originally posted by oldman9er:
Just commenting because I just watched it again as I go back through the replay. 10 yard DE drop, and he got there quickly... wow. Watch a lot of football and can't say I see a DE drop back so quickly and deeply as that often. Great D call and Alex got snookered by it.

Was that a good gamble on their part or what? It was as if they knew the playcall already.

Alex threw towards the sidelines a few times, the Def. play wasn't truly a gamble but an adjustment

Yes, agree with this. Sometimes, the D just calls the perfect play at a bad time for the O.

Originally posted by dj43:

Originally posted by 49AllTheTime:

Originally posted by SJniner7:

Originally posted by oldman9er:
Just commenting because I just watched it again as I go back through the replay. 10 yard DE drop, and he got there quickly... wow. Watch a lot of football and can't say I see a DE drop back so quickly and deeply as that often. Great D call and Alex got snookered by it.

Was that a good gamble on their part or what? It was as if they knew the playcall already.

Alex threw towards the sidelines a few times, the Def. play wasn't truly a gamble but an adjustment

I look at that INT in much the same way as the NO game: The opponent threw something at us that is not usually done in a PS game but it did give us something to look at and work on.

Zone blitzes were DESIGNED to counter the WCO. As such, by Oakland throwing it up there, it gave Alex and Harbaugh a chance to see it and make a correction. Hence, I expect Harbaugh will make the adjustment to the read just like he changed the blocking scheme after the NO debacle.

Sometimes you learn more from your failures than you do from your successes.

Excellent post as well.

Alex played decent. That is all this team needs him to do.

Originally posted by fister30:
Alex played decent. That is all this team needs him to do.

True....IF he can be consistent.

Dniner, last yr was so painful that I don't remember much of it. As to whether alex looked better against raids or not, I don't recall. And I sure as heck am not going to look back at my game tapes from last yr, as they are a certifiable nightmare. What I can say is that everything looked better this yr( forget the score of 3-0), starting with a real, bona fide OL, which happens to have the dead wood gone, and the remainder finally playing like pros. Also we looked to have a handful of young guys on the OL who very well could start...something I thot i would never again see in SF. Chalk it up to superior coaching(both technique and game planning), plus a talent scout that brought home the bacon...not the trash. Another obvious thing is that when D plays well, it jacks up the O, and we played darn well on D. Sure CBs looked tentative to rough, but I feel confident JH can coach around that and also expect baalke to produce some more players from cuts, $$ hassles, to UDFAs who didn't stick , and I bet anything between now and 1st season game , baalke finds someone(s) to shore up the CBs. If not, count on JH to coach around them, in addition to coaching them up.

Do I like Harbaugh? bet your azz.

Originally posted by fister30:
Alex played decent. That is all this team needs him to do.

I wish people would stop saying this. not to jump all over your comment or anything, but in this game Alex played WELL not DECENT.

Let me explain a little bit further. We get so tied to statistics or past performances that we have a ghard time honestly evaluating how the QB actually performed in the game. There have been games in the past where Smith has not played well (maybe decent) and he has had pretty good stats for whatever reason. Especially in pre-season games it is much more important to evaluate what the QB actually did on the field. Alex was very accurate, his incompletions were all drops, and he made one bad throw that was picked off. He was putting his throws in the correct place for the most part, and his pocket awareness was very good. He saw the blitz and made the correct reads. His Redzone work was an Incomplete since he didn't really have a chance to make any throws. He moved the team up and down the field. To me that is playing well. I'm not saying he was playing great, but I think he definitely deserves to have his good performance evaluated fairly.

Lets stop looking at stats or just downgrading Smith's performances becaue we don't think he can "string together a bunch of them" and just evaluate it for what it was.

Ninefour, you are , of course , correct. Consistency is paramount. But just think back over the last 8 yrs when we made mistakes, then made them again, and yet again. I didn't see that on Sat, and have looked at tape twice now, and just see mountains of stuff that is vastly improved over last yr. Do you realize BM was so bad that he couldn't even judge which player was best at which position on the OL, nor who should have been playing where. Obviously his total lack of knowledge of Xs and Os didn't help, but the guy just had a huge void when it came to the O. Aside from LBs, he didn't help out much on D either. And that is what i see is different from last yr...professionalism at the most important position on the field...HC/OC. Also it proves a point i made long ago, and successful coaches have known for a long time. Your HC has to be an OC, (and it doesn't hurt having had DC experience either.)
It is that which has me finally excited about my team after being in 9er hibernation for last 8 yrs.

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:
Ninefour, you are , of course , correct. Consistency is paramount. But just think back over the last 8 yrs when we made mistakes, then made them again, and yet again. I didn't see that on Sat, and have looked at tape twice now, and just see mountains of stuff that is vastly improved over last yr. Do you realize BM was so bad that he couldn't even judge which player was best at which position on the OL, nor who should have been playing where. Obviously his total lack of knowledge of Xs and Os didn't help, but the guy just had a huge void when it came to the O. Aside from LBs, he didn't help out much on D either. And that is what i see is different from last yr...professionalism at the most important position on the field...HC/OC. Also it proves a point i made long ago, and successful coaches have known for a long time. Your HC has to be an OC, (and it doesn't hurt having had DC experience either.)
It is that which has me finally excited about my team after being in 9er hibernation for last 8 yrs.

I hear you, Paso. I'm excited too. I'm also probably more optimistic about Smith than many here. However, while I am confident that the coaching staff will adjust in an effort to be consistent, I'm still concerned that Smith will not be consistent with his play. Call it cautious optimism.

What rubs me wrong are the comments like, "if Alex can play consistently."


What I notice is... if the OL and receivers do their jobs with any sense of consistency? Then so does our QB.

People demand "consistent" good play from the QB when the OL, receiver play, and scheme has been anything but "consistent." That to me seems a very flawed mentality.

I thought the mods weren't allowing fifty million Alice threads.

Another Alex Smith thread. FML

Originally posted by bigmike55:
Another Alex Smith thread. FML

with the exact same folks arguing the exact same points.

Well , Sus, maybe this just isn't an alex thread tho he had the headline. It is more about the overall immense improvement of this team in such a short time frame. Granted I wrote something entirely different after the N.O. game, but I think by raids game, JH had a better handle on what he had and what he needed.

Nine four, I am in agreement with you and obviously only time will tell. My bet , however is on JH, and his mastering of his profession, which thankfully has landed him here at 9erland. I think he is the one that makes alex or Kap, or whoever successful...much like someone else I can think of...Coach Walsh.

Oldman, your point is well taken, and that is what several of us have harped on since...well, since seifert. Alex plays great if Ol blocks, Wrs run crisp routes and catch like Rueland, RBs pick up blitzers (like Hunter did twice),
and then alex follows JH book on how to play qB, and wallah...suddenly we have a team come out of nowhere. And that is exactly where i think we are. What i don't know is just how good we are. Obviously i wouldn't want to play against the Saints again anytime soon, but overall, we are just flat out a way better and entirely different team,
thanks entirely to coach Harbaugh and baalke for getting him the players. I can see upgrades across the board and at least 8-10 new guys sticking this yr.

Originally posted by susweel:

I thought the mods weren't allowing fifty million Alice threads.

Originally posted by bigmike55:

Another Alex Smith thread. FML

Just ignore them if they upset you, why even bother opening it up if you do not want to see it?