Some things I've noticed after 3 weeks

Really good post.

Ponder won that game by scrambling. It nullified the pressure from the Dline and gave them many more chances to connect w/TE & receivers. That tired our line out and it showed. As you mentioned and I have said before we have to get a MUCH better rotation and find Justin's eventual replacement. He is still double-teamed on every play. Totally agree w/Aldon and Ray Mac. Wittner not too effective covering TE's.

KWilliams did VERY well. If he can keep building on that performance, he'll be a real weapon.

Agree on LDavis - his time is over. I trust the coaches but Kilgore seems to be getting better and I'd like to see more of him than Davis. Staley looked slow. Might be too early for Looney but he couldn't do much worse than Burgerman.

Alex overthrew Moss that should have been a TD. Receivers weren't getting separation again - Manningham needs to play more. Crabs should never come out and let's see what Jenkins has for the passing game. Delaine had some good blocks BUT we need another pass catching TE.

Completely agree with you on the coaching. My real complaint on coaching is we aren't aggressive enough on offense. We keep letting people hang in there. like both the Packers and Lions

Thanks again for a good post.

Originally posted by CityKing415:
I felt we played flat on D in the second half vs the lions and we continued that into this week. If the defense struggles then the offense struggles. we know now its the D that carries the team. as far as reciever i think MM and Crabs should be starting. they are solid.

They pretty much are. MM plays a lot more than Moss.

Originally posted by SFrush:

Originally posted by CityKing415:
I felt we played flat on D in the second half vs the lions and we continued that into this week. If the defense struggles then the offense struggles. we know now its the D that carries the team. as far as reciever i think MM and Crabs should be starting. they are solid.

They pretty much are. MM plays a lot more than Moss.

I think the rotational aspect needs to stop for Crabs and MM....you don't see teams taking out their top talent every other play

Originally posted by 9erred:
Sunday was an embarrasment in offensive play calling. Down by two scores the offense was running plays like they where UP two scores and trying to run out the clock. They HAVE to be working on the no huddle drill in practice, the 4th quarter should have been all no huddle. Going into the 4th quarter I was hoping they would put alex in the shot gun, put 4 WR's out their spread the field and start throwing.

I put this loss on the coaches. Alex was not given the green light to open up the play book. BS in my book

Yeah that was strange, no sense of urgency in the 4th quarter.

I wouldn't worry too much, better that we lay an egg early in the season to serve a wake up call... Also, vikings are a better team than everyone has made them out to be. On O, they got playmakers at RB, WR (Harvin), and QB. D is pretty good too, one of the better D-lines in the league

Offense (58)
58 -- QB Alex Smith, TE Vernon Davis (removed OL from this list)
50 -- WR Michael Crabtree
46 -- RB Frank Gore
31 -- WR Mario Manningham
24 -- TE Delanie Walker, WR Kyle Williams
21 -- WR Randy Moss
13 -- FB Bruce Miller
11 -- RB Kendall Hunter

I think we need to get more consistency with another guy opposite Crabs.


Defense (79)
79 -- S Dashon Goldson, OLB Aldon Smith, LB NaVorro Bowman, SS Donte Whitner
77 -- CB Tarell Brown, CB Carlos Rogers
76 -- LB Patrick Willis
75 -- DT Ray McDonald, OLB Ahmad Brooks
72 -- DT Justin Smith
34 -- NT Isaac Sopoaga
30 -- CB Chris Culliver
20-- DT Ricky Jean Francois
5 -- DT Demarcus Dobbs
3 -- LB Larry Grant
2 -- S C.J. Spillman, CB Perrish Cox, OLB Eric Bakhtiari

70+ snaps from our "rushers" is waaaaaaay too much IMO.



http://www.csnbayarea.com/football-san-francisco-niners/niners-talk/Moss-played-seven-snaps-in-second-half?blockID=778371&feedID=5936

Originally posted by Baldie:
I agree on the defensive pressure. As I as I said in another thread, I think making Aldon an every down player could/is hurting the defense. Aldon was fresh on passing downs last year and they were able to create consistant pressure. This year it just hasn't been consistant and plays are being made down field against the defense. Showed against GB, Det, and today against the Vikings. We give the GB's too much time to find Cobb, Megatron, and Harvin who all 3 converted critical downs.

If our offense was able to score points at will, then I wouldn't be so worried but it looks like we're going to have to rely on the defense again this year unless the offense can step up, as its suppose to in 2012.

Not to make excuses or nothing but aldon was getting held all game against Vikes and no calls that small difference between a sack or Ponder raping us on the ground. And we need to blitz more Justin cant always do it by himself. We don't blitz enough and play too soft more bump at the line.

But its early guys relax.

I would also like to see the team take more shots down field. I never understood why they are so reluctant to take a chance here and there.

Originally posted by verb1der:
I agree with you on the coaching/playcalling, I really would like to see them stretch the field more often like how other teams do (especially when the game dictates it, like today's). I remember hearing Alex (or was it Harbaugh) say "we want to make them defend the entire field"....well then why aren't they at least stretching it?

Look at offenses like Falcons, Ravens, etc...they are dangerous going deep.... yeah I know they have guys like Juilo Jones and Torry Smith, but why not start using Aj Jenkins as a deep threat??.....not sure if it's more a philosophy or a limitation with this team.

Ditto. This is has been my biggest problem with this current risk-averse offensive philosophy. It works fine if the defense is playing a lights-out game. But if the D struggles, like they did yesterday, the offense needs to step up and take some "shot" plays at lease between the 40s.

From what I've heard, the Vikes secondary isn't all that great so why not give Moss and Crabtree a chance to catch some deep jump balls or something? Even if they don't catch it, there's a chance for PI (especially with THESE refs). Gotta take some risks once in a while...

this much wrong after 3 weeks and are 2-1 with 3 straight home games coming up soon? wow dude.. at least give till week 9 to have these arguements. one loss and we dont look the same as last year..i hate to tell you this but when the niners won the bowl in 88 against the bengals winning 20-16, we were not as good the followingvyear in 89 and we beat the broncos much easier 55-10, so just be easy greasy..... sheesh you guys are impossible. again its week 3 my goodness.

One over looked item in this loss is a semi break thru performance by Kyle Williams.

Originally posted by LambdaChi49:
One over looked item in this loss is a semi break thru performance by Kyle Williams.

he's the only one that showed up for the game.

Our lack of OLB depth is wearing out Aldon and Brooks

I think Justin still have plenty left in the tank, he's just picking his spots to turn on the juice...One of the biggest concerns Ive had with this team is lack of depth on D-line...When you start to think about it, we really only have Ian Williams, Dobbs, and Jean-Francois to fill the voids at DE and DT....Personally I'd like better quality depth to spell McDonald and J. Smith when possible....You cant ride McDonald and Smith all season otherwise there wont be any tread left on the tires when we most need it.

Originally posted by Young2Rice:
Our lack of OLB depth is wearing out Aldon and Brooks

were only assuming this because we are used to what happened last year with Aldon replacing Parys. Brooks played 95% of the snaps last year and no one on here complained about his effort or motor, he did just fine playing basically every snap and put up stellar #s then being opposite Aldon on passing downs helped both of them out.

Then with Aldon, last year he had burst every time because he had nothing to read or diagnose, he was told get into the backfield, crush whoever has the ball, which more often then not was the QB. This year even when when we send him into the backfield (on any down and distance) he has more responsibilities to read and diagnose the play. The coaches have said on obvious passing situations we will put Aldon's hand in the dirt and let him rush the passer but what if the previous 2 plays he had to make an open field tackle 5 yards down the field and then chase the QB for 5+ seconds all over the pocket and then its 3rd and long? He's going to have next to no energy compared to last year. This is only his 3rd game playing every snap and this was his first game where he was actually an OLB because in weeks 1 and 2 he still played 3/4 of his snaps as a DE if not more.

His endurance will improve and he'll become more explosive as the season goes on but dont blame our lack of depth on Aldon and Brooks staying in the whole game. If Parys was as complete an OLB as Brooks was we would not have drafted Aldon and we would've seen both Parys and Brooks out there for every snap last year.

I knew this was going to happen with people getting mad about Aldon's "production" and motor but what do expect when we saddle him with responsibilities and its only his 3rd game playing all snaps? Again I need to reiterate a point i made earlier but Aldon's current projected stat line is as follows: 45 solo tackles 15 assisted tackles 12.5 sacks, add in an INT or 2 or an FF or 2 and you have a pro-bowl caliber season from a 2nd year OLB.

There is no way that we bench Aldon or Brooks at any point unless one of the just "has to come out". Even if we draft a 1st round OLB this spring he'll just end up sitting on the bench just like Jenkins and James are. Sure we could put him in for a series or two to give Aldon or Brooks a break but I look around the league and I dont see Lamar Woodley, James Harrison, Terrell Suggs, Cameron Wake (during the 3-4 mike nolan d), Mario Williams first 5 games last season in 3-4, coming out of the game unless they are hurt or just spent 30 seconds chasing an RB on screen pass all over the field or had a long fumble/int return. Teams with pro-bowl LBs dont sub them out unless the player has to come out for oxygen or injury. The position that needs to be rotated is the DL because they are fighting in the trenches every down, OLBs can go plays at time without seeing the ball or barely having rush the pocket before a play is over but DL spend 5-10 seconds smashing into the OL and chasing RBs and QBs.

Finding a 3-4 DE early this year is more of a priority then an OLB. Did you know that if we re-sign Sopoaga this time next year the age of our starting DL will be Justin 34, ICE 32, Ray Mac 29. Even with Cowboy that is by far a scare thing to consider, there is no way we will consistently pressure QBs this season or next if those 3 guys are left out there for 95%+ of the snaps. On a note this makes it incredibly obvious to me that we will either be spending in FA for quality backup at DE or drafting one, letting ICE go and starting RJF or drafting an NT high. we have Justin for another year or 2 but we need DL rotation now.