Originally posted by Joecool:
Originally posted by dj43:
Dallas took away the short middle very effectively by dropping Sean Lee into those zones.
Also Jay Ratliff and the DTs were getting a good push up the middle which limited the passing lanes over the middle.
Vernon Davis has been the only deep middle threat and he is being asked to block more than in the past.
As the offense gets filled out, I expect to see more throws into the middle, however, at this time, that area has been shut off. It may also open up more when Edwards and Crabtree get healthy. Morgan has never been effective over the middle (he isn't particularly effective anywhere) and Ginn is too light to last very long running into safeties that prowl those areas.
So what to do?
dj, I have to disagree with you on a lot of these points.
Sean Lee vs dropping into coverage is advantage us IF the QB makes the proper read.
Good push to limit the passing lanes doesn't mean the OL can ride their push and move them to open a hole for a 1 second throw.
Delanie Walker is very capable of a middle of a field threat especially short middle since he is shifty along with Ginn.
slot receivers are not big receivers. Ginn would be ideal to run a slant. Many teams run slants with smaller shifty receivers.
Lee was playing the short drop zone and Ryan was guessing well which side to drop him into. The result was that he was between Smith and the receiver on the few occasions when the slant was run. It isn't that he has to man up on someone. All he has to do is get in the quick throw lane...and that is not hard to do if you guess correctly...and Dallas did.
I understand fully about what the OL has to do. The fact was, Dallas got a quick push most of the time and Smith had to look/throw around them if he was to hit the short zone.
Walker and Ginn COULD run those routes but I do not think Harbaugh trusts Ginn in the middle of the field. Walker could run those routes but with Vernon Davis already in the game, that would leave the 49ers with Ginn and Morgan on the outside and neither of them are going to scare anyone.
I get it that this team needs to air it out more. I just don't think the long routes are going to be there with any consistency until Edwards comes back and Crabtree is healthy. I hope I'm wrong because MC likely will need a couple more weeks to get healthy and then will need to get game ready and in sync with Smith.
I think JH will TRY to open things up some more against Cincy. It is just that the tool box is only half full right now. Frustrating.