Can't believe this is how Alex and co. were coached last year...

Originally posted by jays9ers:
Once again I'm clowning on all the zooners who were sooooo pumped when we retained Simpletary after like 6 games... if we would have waited we probably coulda got Shanahan buuuuut it is what it is now. I'm glad we finally have a competent HC :-)

This is true. I did bought into the Sing hype at the time myself.

Originally posted by dhp318:
It's not revolutionary that receivers adjust their routes to the coverage...

There's nothing wrong with this strategy per se, but it's advanced stuff best suited to QB's and WR's that have been together in the same system for awhile. You need plenty of reps, and chemistry between your QB and receivers to develop first. Harbaugh is bringing them along gradually, playing to their strengths, not asking more than they can do, and building their confidence. He was criticized early for being too conservative, but he has a plan. You gotta crawl before you can walk.

QBs and receivers adjusting throws and routes based on what the defense shows is not new. The teams with long term stability at QB, receivers, and offensive scheme do this very well. They're on the same page and see the same things, almost intuitively. Ours hasn't been in the past 5-7 years.

The article suggests that Jim Harbaugh is takin one step back to go forward. Receivers execute their routes regardless of what the defense shows and let Alex make the decision where to throw. Much simpler, reduces confusion and mistakes, but also reduces opportunity for bigger payoff plays. We're seeing that right now.

Where I think Harbaugh is much more improved from Nolan/Hostler/Sing/Raye/Johnson is that the playcall is more sophisticated and accounts for what the defense is trying to do, from snap to snap. I expect Harbaugh and his offense to be much better at the in-game "chess-match" and they call plays that beat the defensive calls.

Originally posted by qnnhan7:

Originally posted by jays9ers:
Once again I'm clowning on all the zooners who were sooooo pumped when we retained Simpletary after like 6 games... if we would have waited we probably coulda got Shanahan buuuuut it is what it is now. I'm glad we finally have a competent HC :-)

This is true. I did bought into the Sing hype at the time myself.

Lets tell the truth here and knock off the pointless Shanny nuthugging and self congratulations. There was no reason to believe Sing would not have been successful at that time. There was nothing to really indicate he would have been a failure at that time. There was also no reason to believe that Shanny would have been successful either. His team was in complete and utter shambles, and hadn't produced anything of significance in a long, long, long time. In fact, all indications were that Shanny's run as a HC was well past his prime.

Originally posted by Bluefalcon61:
QBs and receivers adjusting throws and routes based on what the defense shows is not new. The teams with long term stability at QB, receivers, and offensive scheme do this very well. They're on the same page and see the same things, almost intuitively. Ours hasn't been in the past 5-7 years.

The article suggests that Jim Harbaugh is takin one step back to go forward. Receivers execute their routes regardless of what the defense shows and let Alex make the decision where to throw. Much simpler, reduces confusion and mistakes, but also reduces opportunity for bigger payoff plays. We're seeing that right now.

Where I think Harbaugh is much more improved from Nolan/Hostler/Sing/Raye/Johnson is that the playcall is more sophisticated and accounts for what the defense is trying to do, from snap to snap. I expect Harbaugh and his offense to be much better at the in-game "chess-match" and they call plays that beat the defensive calls.

This.

I think he is taking a "baby steps" approach. Which is a good thing, because it's all baby steps all the time in reality. These guys are going to get in tune with each other over time...only time can make that happen....until then, and after then, it's all baby steps aimed at helping it along. These guys have to/had to learn to get on the bike as a cohesive multi layered unit before they can/could learn to peddle it, steer it, move it someplace, etc.

I suppose the concept was sound, but the actual instruction/training/practice in how to properly execute more advanced concepts like that was missing.

Sounds about right. Singletary's downfall was in firing Martz as soon as he had to power to do so. Martz was a big part of the late season success that led to Singletary getting the job to begin with, then as thanks he fires him. Singletary's complete lack of offensive understanding would have been ok had he kept an offensive master at his side. But stubborn insecure Singletary thought he'd be better off on his own. In the end he did us all a favor by taking that path. Harbaugh is such a massive upgrade, worth every painful step to get on our team.

I just know I've been called an Alexsexual and that all this stuff was just an Alexcsuse over the years? I know this may be somewhat immature to bring this up, but I, along with many many others here have been saying this for the past 3-4 years, and now that it seems to be happening; it like "hey read this breaking news"!!?? Sorry my friends me and my Alexsexualness have known about this for a while... .. .

Originally posted by Baldie:
Really! What kind of a coach tells you to just break off the route and hope he throws it to you. Makes me feel even more glad that Harbaugh is here.

And we still nearly went to the playoffs!

Originally posted by qnnhan7:

Originally posted by jays9ers:
Once again I'm clowning on all the zooners who were sooooo pumped when we retained Simpletary after like 6 games... if we would have waited we probably coulda got Shanahan buuuuut it is what it is now. I'm glad we finally have a competent HC :-)

This is true. I did bought into the Sing hype at the time myself.

Lots of us did. Face it, most if not all the players on the team did at the time. They'd quit on Nolan--probably tired of his posturing and politicking and "iron fist" style.

Singletary took over and it was like a breath of fresh air. He simplified the defense, which suddenly started looking like a defense, and they won some games. Then he got Vernon's attention, and some others actually started performing on defense (Brooks, Goldson, etc.) and things started looking up.

Then Singletary turned his attention to the offense. He fired Martz, hired Raye, drafted two OL and plugged them in as starters, and the rest is history.

When I read about it this morning in the paper ( doctors office waiting room) I said out loud " YOU GOTTA BE PHUKIN KIDDING ME " For a second I forgot where I was and when I looked up over the paper to see who might of heard me. I noticed about 6 people with small children glaring back at me . My only response was something like " Sorry...ah....49ers...unreal... " then quickly tucked myself back behind the news paper again .

I knew the coaching staff last year was bad but " COME ON MAN "

Originally posted by NinerGM:
The reason why this is hilarious was because the coaches KNEW Smith hadn't developed a rapport with his receivers. Probably the only person who could pull this off successfully was Vernon Davis - and when defenses decided to take him out of games, there goes the passing offense.

Depending on how far back we go, I think the receiver that best worked well in adjusting for Alex was Arnaz Battle. Alex and Arnaz had a great thing going chemistry-wise. VD was a mess in terms of game awareness, routes, and hands.

Originally posted by oldman9er:

Originally posted by NinerGM:
The reason why this is hilarious was because the coaches KNEW Smith hadn't developed a rapport with his receivers. Probably the only person who could pull this off successfully was Vernon Davis - and when defenses decided to take him out of games, there goes the passing offense.

Depending on how far back we go, I think the receiver that best worked well in adjusting for Alex was Arnaz Battle. Alex and Arnaz had a great thing going chemistry-wise. VD was a mess in terms of game awareness, routes, and hands.

This is very true, he also had good chemistry with Antonio Bryant even though he was only here for a short time. Can't wait to see the chemistry grow with the group of guys we have now. Let's go 9ers!

Originally posted by NinerGM:
The reason why this is hilarious was because the coaches KNEW Smith hadn't developed a rapport with his receivers. Probably the only person who could pull this off successfully was Vernon Davis - and when defenses decided to take him out of games, there goes the passing offense.

Again, Singletary had no clue as to what was going on and Raye should have known this type of approach only works with practice. I guess it develops over time, but certainly not with an OL that is not good a pass blocking. You can't have effective rapport until your OL blocks to give the QB and WRs reps to be able to run this successfully. Pushing two rookies and keeping Rachal on a line doomed this approach from the beginning. It never had a chance.

Bravo NinerGM Controlled Chaos fail.

I'm not a hater by any means, but I think we are giving JH a little too much credit - I'm not saying he doesn't deserve any (if not a lot), however I'll reserve my higher praises for when we move the ball more consistently earlier in games like last week and score TDs. If last week had been a loss, even a close one - say the Eagles kick a gaming winning FG on the last drive, everyone would be complaining (with good reason) about the play calling and lack of game plan that we witnessed in the first 1/2. Instead, it's a win and JH is "brilliant", an "offensive genius", etc.

I just want a win were we go ahead early and never look back. Actually, I think I'd settle for a good old fashioned shootout - just to instill some confidence not only in our O but confidence that us fans have in our O.