Week 3: Thoughts after rewatching the game...

Some thoughts on defense from the opening drive.

- Crisp execution from the Vikes... hat on a hat.. They came out with a plan and they did everything right...

- the 4th down TD pass at the goalline was a huge depleter.. but our guys did play very hard that drive.

- sissy-soft cushion from Rogers on TE Rudolph for a major first down on a slant? Are you f**king kidding me??

- Aldon Smith is half the player at 3-4 OLB VS what he was last year as a strictly rush DE in passing downs. Hesitation and slow to read plays... not looking good as an every down guy at this time.

- Willis and Bowman still looking so good in run D, but not so much in coverage.

- I wish Goldson were actually 5' 11" or 6' instead of 6' 2"... very Mike Rumph-like in his ability to cut and redirect..

Originally posted by oldman9er:
Some thoughts on defense from the opening drive.

- Crisp execution from the Vikes... hat on a hat.. They came out with a plan and they did everything right...

- the 4th down TD pass at the goalline was a huge depleter.. but our guys did play very hard that drive.

- sissy-soft cushion from Rogers on TE Rudolph for a major first down on a slant? Are you f**king kidding me??

- Aldon Smith is half the player at 3-4 OLB VS what he was last year as a strictly rush DE in passing downs. Hesitation and slow to read plays... not looking good as an every down guy at this time.

- Willis and Bowman still looking so good in run D, but not so much in coverage.

- I wish Goldson were actually 5' 11" or 6' instead of 6' 2"... very Mike Rumph-like in his ability to cut and redirect..

I think the Parys Haralson injury is affecting our Defense more than we thought. He would definitely be out there more on run plays giving Aldon a free ticket to rush.

Just doing my running sack total...

Week 1: Joe Staley 2.5, A. Davis .5, Miller 1 = 4
Week 2: L. Davis 1, Iupati 1, V. Davis 1 = 3
Week 3: Alex Smith 1, Joe Staley 1, Nobody's Fault 1 = 3

Total on Season: Staley 3.5, VD 1, LD 1, Iupati 1, Miller 1, A.Smith 1, A.Davis .5, Nobody 1, Goodwin 0, Boone 0 = 10

The 1st one Alex was just trying to make a play and waited as long as possible hoping someone would get open. He should have threw it away and ended up taking a hit. Didn't really hurt us but could have fumbled after a decent hit. 2nd one you could technically say Alex but I won't because he took off and slipped. It's a sack but really it isn't. He would have gotten more than 0 yards if he hadn't slipped. Last one Staley got beat by Allen on the sack/forced fumble that ended the game. Iupati blocked his guy who then ran around so Iupati left him and went to help Staley but kind of pushed Allen into Alex although Staley was pretty much beaten and would have gotten to Alex anyways. Really only 1 sack given up isn't too bad for a team with Allen. Staley is playing against some elite guys but he is well on his way of surpassing his 6 given up last year. Biggest improvement A.Davis at .5 and Boone at 0

Edit: And I wonder what the sites that charge you have for totals? I figured I would do this each week because I am always looking for sacks given up individually and it's a secret stat that nobody likes to show.

Yeah, Brown and Goldson had bad games. Brown had the worst... Rogers didn't play much better.. seemed like we were giving way too much cushion on critical plays and just let them catch slants/1st downs.

I would agree we miss Haralson. Aldon is not in good enough shape and not use to playing the whole game. Would be nice to have Haralson in there giving Aldon rest once in awhile on run downs. Although, Aldon is getting better against the run... had a nice tackle on Peterson that saved a big run. Just needs to get better in coverage... gave up the TD on 4th and goal but not sure how Goldson didn't get the Qb. Good play by Ponder though.

Probably talked about a bunch but we were sleep walking at times... didn't like the execution and intensity (on both sides). Play calling was suspect at times but it was last year as well. Not much pressure on a young QB, more blitzing. The drops and not capitalizing on opportunities hurt. The Moss high pass on was it the 1st drive after they got 7, the high pass to moss would have been a td, the whitner dropped int that could have been a pick 6 and made it 24-20, the blocked field goal, the 3 points after 84 yard kick return, probably left 20 points on the field. The 2 personal foul calls that were terrible that led to 30 yards on the td drive that made it 24-13 probably changed the whole game. Instead of 20-13 or even still 17-13 without those 30 yards made it 2 possession instead of 1. Still we were flat, Vikings played well and things just didnt go our way.

Originally posted by Gore_21:
Just doing my running sack total...

Week 1: Joe Staley 2.5, A. Davis .5, Miller 1 = 4
Week 2: L. Davis 1, Iupati 1, V. Davis 1 = 3
Week 3: Alex Smith 1, Joe Staley 1, Nobody's Fault 1 = 3

Total on Season: Staley 3.5, VD 1, LD 1, Iupati 1, Miller 1, A.Smith 1, A.Davis .5, Nobody 1 = 10

The 1st one Alex was just trying to make a play and waited as long as possible hoping someone would get open. He should have threw it away and ended up taking a hit. Didn't really hurt us but could have fumbled after a decent hit. 2nd one you could technically say Alex but I won't because he took off and slipped. It's a sack but really it isn't. He would have gotten more than 0 yards if he hadn't slipped. Last one Staley got beat by Allen on the sack/forced fumble that ended the game. Iupati blocked his guy who then ran around so Iupati left him and went to help Staley but kind of pushed Allen into Alex although Staley was pretty much beaten and would have gotten to Alex anyways. Really only 1 sack given up isn't too bad for a team with Allen. Staley is playing against some elite guys but he is well on his way of surpassing his 6 given up last year. Biggest improvement A.Davis at .5 and Boone at 0

Staley had another one too but Alex wouldn't go down; Staley's guy had his lower leg wrapped up, Alex spun, jumped out of it, hopped and threw an incompletion. Sometimes the QB can help the OL too!

Originally posted by NCommand:
Staley had another one too but Alex wouldn't go down; Staley's guy had his lower leg wrapped up, Alex spun, jumped out of it, hopped and threw an incompletion. Sometimes the QB can help the OL too!

Oh, yeah... big credit to alex for that... he almost had a completion 2, gore was right there but couldn't get anything on it. I was like what is alex doing but I didn't know Allen? had his leg.

Edit: And side note, how much better is the right side with an improved Davis and a competent guard next to him? That's rhetorical question. Makes you wonder if at some point with Staley locked up for many years yet if he eventually becomes the RT and Davis goes to LT. Than again Davis is much better against power rushers and Staley is better against speed. Not sure Davis could handle the speed of guys like Allen. Davis loves bull rushers and very few guys can bull rush him but if you get guys like Babin running around him that he struggles with.

First time poster. Got sick of all of the bias and insanity on the official 49ers forums. I personally thought Alex played one of his worst games. I have the coaches film and he left SO MANY plays on the field. It's like the Vikings did their homework, knew where Smith can throw, and where he can't, and just let those other receivers be wide open.

Originally posted by Gore_21:

Originally posted by NCommand:
Staley had another one too but Alex wouldn't go down; Staley's guy had his lower leg wrapped up, Alex spun, jumped out of it, hopped and threw an incompletion. Sometimes the QB can help the OL too!

Oh, yeah... big credit to alex for that... he almost had a completion 2, gore was right there but couldn't get anything on it. I was like what is alex doing but I didn't know Allen? had his leg.

Edit: And side note, how much better is the right side with an improved Davis and a competent guard next to him? That's rhetorical question. Makes you wonder if at some point with Staley locked up for many years yet if he eventually becomes the RT and Davis goes to LT. Than again Davis is much better against power rushers and Staley is better against speed. Not sure Davis could handle the speed of guys like Allen. Davis loves bull rushers and very few guys can bull rush him but if you get guys like Babin running around him that he struggles with.

Good stuff overall, G21. On that Gore pass, I really have no idea what Frank was doing... just stood there and the ball bounced like a yard in front of him. Why not take a step or two forward and.. oh I don't know... maybe catch it???

Originally posted by oldman9er:
Good stuff overall, G21. On that Gore pass, I really have no idea what Frank was doing... just stood there and the ball bounced like a yard in front of him. Why not take a step or two forward and.. oh I don't know... maybe catch it???

Yeah, Gore didn't make much of an effort... he was right there and kind of stood there and let it hit the ground just like you said. Maybe he thought Alex wouldn't get it to him or was throwing it out of bounds. For all we know he thought they were going to blow it dead and it was a sack. Lots of plays like that yesterday... definitely didn't bring the intensity.

Originally posted by Marmatag:
First time poster. Got sick of all of the bias and insanity on the official 49ers forums. I personally thought Alex played one of his worst games. I have the coaches film and he left SO MANY plays on the field. It's like the Vikings did their homework, knew where Smith can throw, and where he can't, and just let those other receivers be wide open.

Welcome.

Marmatag, can you prove that? I'd like to see some pics or quick clips of those developing plays. Thanks, and welcome to the forum.

Originally posted by Marmatag:
First time poster. Got sick of all of the bias and insanity on the official 49ers forums. I personally thought Alex played one of his worst games. I have the coaches film and he left SO MANY plays on the field. It's like the Vikings did their homework, knew where Smith can throw, and where he can't, and just let those other receivers be wide open.

In terms of missing two passes, he didn't play well but that happens to every QB in almost every game. He played Alex Smith football. Took what the design gave him but didn't go above and beyond the matchups MIN gave him. Their QB made better plays when the designs didn't work or when he was pressured. Unfortunately, you shouldn't expect more than this from Alex. We MUST establish the run game, especially vs disciplined defenses.

Actually, even then, MIN still didn't bite to Gore's chunks. They were waiting for those play action plays.

Originally posted by Method:
Marmatag, can you prove that? I'd like to see some pics or quick clips of those developing plays. Thanks, and welcome to the forum.

No, can't be proven.

But I can show you pics and clips of a QB actually making plays. Alex doesn't eff up, but he won't make things happen either, which is why it's so hard to prove unless you are watching it and see "it" not happening when the design doesn't work.

Originally posted by Marmatag:
First time poster. Got sick of all of the bias and insanity on the official 49ers forums. I personally thought Alex played one of his worst games. I have the coaches film and he left SO MANY plays on the field. It's like the Vikings did their homework, knew where Smith can throw, and where he can't, and just let those other receivers be wide open.

Hey, MannyLawson_99 from over there... welcome. Just to let you know it's just as insane if not worse here. Plus a lot more is allowed here than over there.

Originally posted by Joecool:
No, can't be proven.

But I can show you pics and clips of a QB actually making plays. Alex doesn't eff up, but he won't make things happen either, which is why it's so hard to prove unless you are watching it and see "it" not happening when the design doesn't work.

What?

He said that Alex left "SO MANY plays on the field.... Minnesota left (some) of those other receivers wide open (because Alex couldn't see them)."

If there were wide open receivers, I'd like to see it on the coaches film because from what I've heard, there were not many. It'd be nice to see some pics of those guys because IMO our play calling was well below even average, and had way too many short or intermediate routes by almost every player. If Alex was the one at fault, It'd be nice to get confirmation. Right now I put the blame on the game plan because it was just so mediocre.