Week 10: Thoughts after rewatching the Giants game....

Originally posted by RayWersching:
Not sure what you were disagreeing with. I was giving credit to the Giants O-line and none of the front 4 got many QB hits or even 1 sack.

Just the part about making the blitz "necessary". That actually made it worse. Other than the WIllis Sack, they were better off just rushing 3 or 4 and dropping the rest in coverage.

Yes, agreed. That was sort of what i was trying to point out. Lack of consistent pressure is why I thought Fangio felt the blitzes were necessary. They ended up hurting us.

Originally posted by Marvin49:

Originally posted by RayWersching:
McDonald was not a factor yesterday.

Neither was Brooks as he kept taking the speed rush to the outside of his man and Manning just took two steps forward and avoided the pressure.

Overall our d-line wasn't getting pressure from their front four and this made the blitzing necessary more than any other game so far. It eventually bit us in the end. Poor decision to bring that safety blitz on an obvious passing down. In my opinion that ws one of the better pass blocking offensive lines we have gone up against.

Well...disagree again.

The Niners actally played BETTER when they didn't blitz. They weren't getting consistent pressure, but when they blitzed Manning was even better.

Bottom line...give just due when its due. Despite the 2 picks, Manning played very well. There were several balls that he threw that the defensive player had no chance on (the Nicks TD, the Manningham TD, several passes to Manningham on the boundry). Justin Smith also said after the game that he reminded him of his brother because he ketp changing the play at the line and was almost always changing to the CORRECT play. Give the Giants credit...they played very well.

True...their OL played very very well. We'd rush outside, outside-in, stunts, etc. The only play that worked was rushing both Bowman/Willis at the same time. A credit to the OLB's though...all of them, they were very active in the run game and gave them very little off tackles and forcing the runs back inside. There were times were even the inside help was late d/t their OL blocking very well and getting to the next level; they also were able to rush it up inside more than anyone we've faced this year. To me, the Giants played about as well as you can play esp. on the road and after a big win against the Pats...and we still beat them.

My concerns are fatigue...that was a VERY physical game and we looked tired (even before this game) re: the defense. We better be careful with the Cards next week!

BTW: Did their receivers drop a single pass yesterday (don't count that finger tip dropped TD pass). Esp. in the 4th quarter...I can think of one drop but it was a bullet by Manning (receiver had no chance).

I thought Carlos Rogers dance after he picked Eli over cruz was hilarious!

Alex showed a pocket presence that I failed to see in his first 6 years. Proud of him and our Niners

Originally posted by Marvin49:

Originally posted by Lifer:

Originally posted by Marvin49:
1) Justin Smith/Patrick WIllis: Wow. Justin just never gives up. Love the effort. Also love the fact that Willis held the TE behind him without actually holding him. He put his helmet on the side that the TE was trying to run to but NEVER used his hands. Even if Justin doesn't jump...there is nothing there. Willis made SEVERAL game-changing stops in that game. That stop of Manning on third down was fantastic.

Disagree about the "nothing there." That's what Aikman said, but he was wrong. If you watch the replay from behind the QB (the overhead camera) you can clearly see where Manning is looking and where he wants to throw. The receiver is close to the TE/LB bunch but he's beaten the defender and fading towards the end zone and away from the bunch. There's no one in front of the him and if Manning feathers the pass over the TE, it's a touchdown. Manning was throwing perfect passes all day long and if Smith doesn't block that one, we're going to OT. Game saving play by Justin Smith.

I agree about Patrick Willis though. Great play. He took away the first (TE) option. Great game overall. Willis and Smith are co-MVP's for the week.

Disagree.

The route was indeed to Manningham, but Willis blew it up.

The TE was running a clearing route to move the LB out of the middle to open a hole for the WR behind him. When Willis held his ground and hit the TE, the hole wasn't there. If the QB trows the ball high, the WR is only a few yards behind him. There was no opening.

I watched the play several times after I heard Deion Sanders talk about it. He's right (for once).

I read on a Giants forum that Justin Smith was interviewed and said that before the play he called out where the ball was going to go (said something like "they always throw in the "B" hole"...insert joke here....). They already knew where Manning was likely to go with the ball. Thats why Willis blew up the TE and Justin jumped.

Aikman is right. He's a former QB. Pretty sure he knows how to dissect a play I saw the same thing Aikman did. Ballard got caught up at the line with Willis. He was suppose to clear out Willis towards the outside/inside, giving Eli a clear lane to throw to Cruz. As it is, Ballard and Willis fenced the throwing lane. The pass would have hit Ballard in the shoulder or head Maybe Cruz could have followed the ball make the catch in the end zone Eli tried to zip the ball to Cruz so obviously he didn't see Ballard was still there. Otherwise it might have been a slight lob to Cruz.

There was no one open in the corner of the end zone. Well covered. Our guys did a good job.

Originally posted by qnnhan7:

Originally posted by Marvin49:

Originally posted by Lifer:

Originally posted by Marvin49:
1) Justin Smith/Patrick WIllis: Wow. Justin just never gives up. Love the effort. Also love the fact that Willis held the TE behind him without actually holding him. He put his helmet on the side that the TE was trying to run to but NEVER used his hands. Even if Justin doesn't jump...there is nothing there. Willis made SEVERAL game-changing stops in that game. That stop of Manning on third down was fantastic.

Disagree about the "nothing there." That's what Aikman said, but he was wrong. If you watch the replay from behind the QB (the overhead camera) you can clearly see where Manning is looking and where he wants to throw. The receiver is close to the TE/LB bunch but he's beaten the defender and fading towards the end zone and away from the bunch. There's no one in front of the him and if Manning feathers the pass over the TE, it's a touchdown. Manning was throwing perfect passes all day long and if Smith doesn't block that one, we're going to OT. Game saving play by Justin Smith.

I agree about Patrick Willis though. Great play. He took away the first (TE) option. Great game overall. Willis and Smith are co-MVP's for the week.

Disagree.

The route was indeed to Manningham, but Willis blew it up.

The TE was running a clearing route to move the LB out of the middle to open a hole for the WR behind him. When Willis held his ground and hit the TE, the hole wasn't there. If the QB trows the ball high, the WR is only a few yards behind him. There was no opening.

I watched the play several times after I heard Deion Sanders talk about it. He's right (for once).

I read on a Giants forum that Justin Smith was interviewed and said that before the play he called out where the ball was going to go (said something like "they always throw in the "B" hole"...insert joke here....). They already knew where Manning was likely to go with the ball. Thats why Willis blew up the TE and Justin jumped.

Aikman is right. He's a former QB. Pretty sure he knows how to dissect a play I saw the same thing Aikman did. Ballard got caught up at the line with Willis. He was suppose to clear out Willis towards the outside/inside, giving Eli a clear lane to throw to Cruz. As it is, Ballard and Willis fenced the throwing lane. The pass would have hit Ballard in the shoulder or head Maybe Cruz could have followed the ball make the catch in the end zone Eli tried to zip the ball to Cruz so obviously he didn't see Ballard was still there. Otherwise it might have been a slight lob to Cruz.

There was no one open in the corner of the end zone. Well covered. Our guys did a good job.

Correct. I said Manningham but I meant Cruz.

The VD TD where he ran underneath. 9ers had Walker run the underneath lanes throughout the game with success. One time Walker stiff armed Tuck. So they got Davis to run it this time and the Giants D still hadnt adjusted. Great play and great setting up with Walker running the underneath throughout the game.

Originally posted by 9erguy:
Alex showed a pocket presence that I failed to see in his first 6 years. Proud of him and our Niners

Yeah, what happend to the robotic, happy feet, roll to the right & throw out of bound with long wind up QB who couldn't hit receivers in stride?

Everything I'd criticized Smith of is all gone. Incredible!

Good recap from profootballfocus.com. The usual take on Justin. Carlos graded out negative overall.

http://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2011/11/14/re-focused-giants-49ers-week-10/

Originally posted by pigskin:

Originally posted by 9erguy:
Alex showed a pocket presence that I failed to see in his first 6 years. Proud of him and our Niners

Yeah, what happend to the robotic, happy feet, roll to the right & throw out of bound with long wind up QB who couldn't hit receivers in stride?

Everything I'd criticized Smith of is all gone. Incredible!

its called actually having a coach

all the good qbs have it

For me the pivotal moment of the game was at the end of the third quarter. The Giants had just scored a touchdown and led 13-12 and when our offense tried to answer back Alex was pressured and we couldn't move the ball. The Giants got the ball back with the opportunity to extend the lead and I couldn't help thinking this was where we begin to slide--one thing leads to another, they score, we don't, it begins to snowball...

But it didn't happen. The defense held the Giants to a three-and-out, stopped them cold. Killed any momentum they were starting to seize. And when the 49ers got the ball back Alex Smith found VD for the long score.

Originally posted by Marvin49:

Originally posted by Lifer:

Originally posted by Marvin49:
1) Justin Smith/Patrick WIllis: Wow. Justin just never gives up. Love the effort. Also love the fact that Willis held the TE behind him without actually holding him. He put his helmet on the side that the TE was trying to run to but NEVER used his hands. Even if Justin doesn't jump...there is nothing there. Willis made SEVERAL game-changing stops in that game. That stop of Manning on third down was fantastic.

Disagree about the "nothing there." That's what Aikman said, but he was wrong. If you watch the replay from behind the QB (the overhead camera) you can clearly see where Manning is looking and where he wants to throw. The receiver is close to the TE/LB bunch but he's beaten the defender and fading towards the end zone and away from the bunch. There's no one in front of the him and if Manning feathers the pass over the TE, it's a touchdown. Manning was throwing perfect passes all day long and if Smith doesn't block that one, we're going to OT. Game saving play by Justin Smith.

I agree about Patrick Willis though. Great play. He took away the first (TE) option. Great game overall. Willis and Smith are co-MVP's for the week.

Disagree.

The route was indeed to Manningham, but Willis blew it up.

The TE was running a clearing route to move the LB out of the middle to open a hole for the WR behind him. When Willis held his ground and hit the TE, the hole wasn't there. If the QB trows the ball high, the WR is only a few yards behind him. There was no opening.

I watched the play several times after I heard Deion Sanders talk about it. He's right (for once).

I read on a Giants forum that Justin Smith was interviewed and said that before the play he called out where the ball was going to go (said something like "they always throw in the "B" hole"...insert joke here....). They already knew where Manning was likely to go with the ball. Thats why Willis blew up the TE and Justin jumped.

agreed, but i think the play was the exact same as the play against the patirots.... only different players... very well played by 49ers defense.

Originally posted by 9erguy:
Alex showed a pocket presence that I failed to see in his first 6 years. Proud of him and our Niners

this! very proud of alex

The best example to me of an all around team effort was when we had to kick the ball back to the Giants. Special team tackled their returner, I think inside the 15. Then the defense got an INT to give it back to our offense. Then the offense punched it in for a TD. Good stuff.