Hiding our Big time plays

Old time webzoner here, haven't really visited the zone since we started winning cuz....you know I do not really know why.

But anyway, am I the only one that thinks that this offense, well our passing attack specifically has the potential to be middle of the pack to top 12 in the NFL if we really wanted? I keep getting the feeling that Harbaugh only brings out the stops when he needs to, and for better or worse he has been hiding a lot of plays because we are controlling games so much with our defense.

Throughout this season, I've been slowly noticing how after games like the seahawks, bucs browns and even bengals when we were pretty much in cruise control and harbaugh, or smith, or a WR talking about how we wanted to keep playing field position and controlling the tempo.

We are down against the eagles, the only game we haven't physicially dominated and needed to come back, and BOOM alex 291 2 TD 33 attempts. Braylon talks about it, I think Harbaugh is calling really calculated vanilla plays he knows will work and is keeping our Air game in relative check and waiting for the ravens, steelers, giants, and playoffs to let it go.

I seriously think because we have been able to dominate games, and like analysts Stevieee Young and Dilfer say, we have the capability to really open it up if we have to and start using VD and Braylon on more than just slant and stop routes.

I completely agree with you..when i was watching yesterdays game i felt like 49ers have a ferrari and we are just testing out all its little functions and features..Like all the audibles and shifts that Alex was calling I just got the feeling that he was testing out their knowledge of the plays against a mediocre opponent..I really believe that Harbaugh is saving everything for the playoffs because it will be just that much harder to beat us if we are running plays they haven't seen during the season..Either way I love what Im seeing and the creativeness and ingenuity of harbaugh constantly gets me smiling..finally we have a payton or bellicheck as our coach and i actually think harbaugh is smarter then both of them as well.AHHHHHH!!!! exciting..anyways my first post on the ZONE...been coming here for almost 6 years

I hope you are right. I felt like their was no reason to push the envelope against the last two teams because we didn't want to give up a turnover or need to stray from the conservative game plan. We will see the next few weeks...

plenty more to show. everybody on offense says we've got more left

I agree. Harbaugh is not saving anything for down the road. He puts all he has into winning each game. That said we have had total control of these last two games by halftime and pound teams into submission in the 2nd half with our ground game and defense.

I read some dumb article on Grantland about how the Niners haven't had to ever come back with their passing game yet and how this will be our downfall. Did he watch the Eagles game? Hello? Down 20 points in the 2nd half we got the rally started with a long pass to Hunter and two second half TD passes put us back in it.

We are smart enough to be balanced offensively but skilled enough to excel at both if needed.

It kind of makes sense that this could be happening. Alex has said something interesting every week after a win, he always says something like "Not to give away too much of our secrets or gameplan", I think he maybe referring to keeping everything simple enough that if the plays they keep running are working why not keep running them. This works out perfectly because they can set up their next opponent and from the looks of it, it's something they've been doing every week now. It's something that we haven't seen in such a long time and I'm glad that this coaching staff is here in SF! GO 9ers!

I agree to a point. If we had a better QB I think he would be passing more though.

You can see that he is picking his chances to implement new plays and new formations. Right now, what he is doing is smart. The team has a lot of new formations to digest and to this point in the season they have been really successful in keeping the defenses guessing as to whether we are passing or running.

As we get more comfortable we will see more passing plays but he's bringing Alex along slowly and not putting him in a position where he feels the pressure to complete long passes down the field and make poor decisions which lead to turnovers.

Oh my God, we have a coach folks. A scheming smart as hell football coach who actually understands the modern NFL.

Hallelujah, let us rejoice.

Spot on post, I agree.

Originally posted by RayWersching:
I agree to a point. If we had a better QB I think he would be passing more though.

You can see that he is picking his chances to implement new plays and new formations. Right now, what he is doing is smart. The team has a lot of new formations to digest and to this point in the season they have been really successful in keeping the defenses guessing as to whether we are passing or running.

As we get more comfortable we will see more passing plays but he's bringing Alex along slowly and not putting him in a position where he feels the pressure to complete long passes down the field and make poor decisions which lead to turnovers.

I get this argument with the "not putting Alex in position where he feels the pressure".

But, when they've put him in that position he's delivered, I don't really like any of the coaches honestly think they've got to game plan around smiths mediocrity. I truly believe they believe he's one of the best QBs in the league and have total faith.

The opposite question I wonder: If "better" QB teams had OUR defense, special teams and running games, would they be asked to air it out with a two score lead?

!!!That's it to me, I don't think Rodgers or Brady would have these high scoring games if their Defenses weren't so bad or if they had a running game. Regardless of who your QB is, if you can successfully run the ball with a two-score lead, you do it! It puts your team in the best chance to win, being that passing doesn't control the clock and ALWAYS comes with the higher risk of a TO.

Anyone think we might start seeing a little of kap in some of these games coming up? He might be kind of a secret weapon. Not saying to replace Alex but just for some plays and use his big arm or some kind of play that Alex and kap are on the field at the same time.

Good post and I totally agree. Every game we see one or two plays that suprise everyone - especially the opposing defenses. I think our coaches are waiting until we need them to win games. Our D hasn't been blitz heavy like many predicted Fangio would do. I see us saving special plays and packages for the big games.

Not to toot my own horn but I have been preaching this for weeks. I base that on what I have heard and read about Harbaugh's reverence for Bill Walsh. Having seen all of the Walsh years in person, I know that was a hallmark of Walsh. Though he would almost always throw in a new little wrinkle in every game, sometimes those little wrinkles were just to force upcoming opponents to prepare for something Walsh had no intention of ever using again. I believe the passes to Staley and Sopoaga may have been an example of that.

OTOH, Walsh ALWAYS held a play or two in reserve for critical situations in MUST WIN games. These would be new plays or variations on older themes, but always something that had not been a main part of the game plan.

I believe Harbaugh is following that same script. He goes along with the game plan but then in a fairly innocuous way he changes things up, sometimes almost like he wants to see if something will work. In yesterday's game, the running game was going well even though game conditions were not yielding the results he wanted. Then, Alex Smith comes out and completes three passes in a row, the offense gets rolling again and Harbaugh goes right back into turtle mode. That is Walsh stuff.

Now if Edwards really gets rolling, and I believe he will, then we will begin to see some "big plays" that JH has been hiding. Gotta have players to run big plays sometimes...did you see that #49? Where did THAT come from? (answer below)















Bill Walsh. Typical Bill Walsh.

Originally posted by dj43:
Not to toot my own horn but I have been preaching this for weeks. I base that on what I have heard and read about Harbaugh's reverence for Bill Walsh. Having seen all of the Walsh years in person, I know that was a hallmark of Walsh. Though he would almost always throw in a new little wrinkle in every game, sometimes those little wrinkles were just to force upcoming opponents to prepare for something Walsh had no intention of ever using again. I believe the passes to Staley and Sopoaga may have been an example of that.

OTOH, Walsh ALWAYS held a play or two in reserve for critical situations in MUST WIN games. These would be new plays or variations on older themes, but always something that had not been a main part of the game plan.

I believe Harbaugh is following that same script. He goes along with the game plan but then in a fairly innocuous way he changes things up, sometimes almost like he wants to see if something will work. In yesterday's game, the running game was going well even though game conditions were not yielding the results he wanted. Then, Alex Smith comes out and completes three passes in a row, the offense gets rolling again and Harbaugh goes right back into turtle mode. That is Walsh stuff.

Now if Edwards really gets rolling, and I believe he will, then we will begin to see some "big plays" that JH has been hiding. Gotta have players to run big plays sometimes...did you see that #49? Where did THAT come from? (answer below)















Bill Walsh. Typical Bill Walsh.

That was the same play that went for a TD to Delanie Walker vs Dallas but flipped.

Originally posted by gamechanger:

Originally posted by dj43:
Not to toot my own horn but I have been preaching this for weeks. I base that on what I have heard and read about Harbaugh's reverence for Bill Walsh. Having seen all of the Walsh years in person, I know that was a hallmark of Walsh. Though he would almost always throw in a new little wrinkle in every game, sometimes those little wrinkles were just to force upcoming opponents to prepare for something Walsh had no intention of ever using again. I believe the passes to Staley and Sopoaga may have been an example of that.

OTOH, Walsh ALWAYS held a play or two in reserve for critical situations in MUST WIN games. These would be new plays or variations on older themes, but always something that had not been a main part of the game plan.

I believe Harbaugh is following that same script. He goes along with the game plan but then in a fairly innocuous way he changes things up, sometimes almost like he wants to see if something will work. In yesterday's game, the running game was going well even though game conditions were not yielding the results he wanted. Then, Alex Smith comes out and completes three passes in a row, the offense gets rolling again and Harbaugh goes right back into turtle mode. That is Walsh stuff.

Now if Edwards really gets rolling, and I believe he will, then we will begin to see some "big plays" that JH has been hiding. Gotta have players to run big plays sometimes...did you see that #49? Where did THAT come from? (answer below)















Bill Walsh. Typical Bill Walsh.

That was the same play that went for a TD to Delanie Walker vs Dallas but flipped.

Good point. Glad you brought that up. Harbaugh had that in his back pocket for 6 games and now brought it back but a different player on the opposite side. Bill was sitting up there .