Week 8: Thoughts after rewatching the game...

First off...big ups to the SF Giants!!!! Twice in three years. Way to represent the Bay.

1) Alex Smith running tally: Stats after Eagles game in 2010 (Monday Night "We Want Carr" game). 33 Games, 902 Att, 576 Comp, 6638 Yards, 45 Tds, 13 INTs, 96.58 QB Rating. In just the Harbaugh era (including Playoffs), He is 454 of 722 for 5298 yards, 34 TDs, and 10 INTs. That's a 94.98 rating. With only a 2 point drop in rating, I think that illustrates my point about his change starting before Harbaugh. Harbaugh has made a big difference, I'm just saying the change began before Harbaugh. Alex is currently the fourth highest rated QB in the NFL with a 102.1 rating on the season. He has the 2 highest rated single games in 49ers history (yes, better than either Young or Montana ever posted) with TWO games this season in the 157 range. Look, Alex is what he is. He does his job. Is he in the Rodgers/Manning/Brady class? No. He doesn't need to be. I'd rather have a balanced attack anyway. He did get away with one last night tho because there is a very good chance that tipped pass to Walker gets picked off if it wasn't tipped.

2) Aldon Smith: Still beastly. Pressure is tough this year with so many teams playing a short passing game, but Aldon is still getting it done.

3) Pass D: Even tho they gave up 290 yards to Skelton (almost ALL garbage yards after game was decided), the scheme that they are playing is fantastic. They are playing coverage which is forcing defenses to move to a short passing game. When was the last time tou saw them give up a long TD pass? They haven't. They are forcing teams to check down and run short passes all day. That is why the sacks are down...teams are getting rid of the ball very quickly. I'm perfectly fine with that. BTW...Chris Culliver is turning into a very good player.

4) Run D: WOW. The only reason they even had 7 yards was a 10+ yards run on a 3rd and long draw play at the end of the half. That was domination.

5) Scheme on O: Love it. Got back to basics. Ran the ball effectively, forced the D to commit more men to stop it, then passed the ball successfully and dominated the game from beginning to end.

6) Penalties/Sacks: There is one trend that bothers me. This has really been happening all year. They are driving the ball well and then when they start to get close they take a sack....or get a holding penalty....or a false start....or a delay of game. They play well and then shoot themselves in the foot. This game could have been even more lopsided if not for mistakes. Alex also needs to stop taking those sacks throw the ball away.

7) Moss: The old man still has something. He clearly isn't the same guy he was a few years ago, but there is something there. I was happy to see him break loose like that if for no other reason it will continue to force defenses to account for him.

8) Crabtree: Big game for him. I'd like to see alot more plays in the redzone like that first TD. Crab has some of the longest arms you will ever see and very strong hands. He can be a weapon in there...especially if defenses are keying in on Davis and Moss.

9) Goldson: Again...as I have stated many times, I haven't been his biggest fan. He's having a hell of a year tho. That hit was a thing of beauty.

10) 6-2 at the bye: Damn...two weeks till the next game!?! I hate that!! It will be good to get everyone healthy and rested. Its very nie to go into the break with a 2 game lead on the division, a 2-0 record IN the division, and a win against both the 2nd and 3rd place teams in the division. Its been a great half-season. Lets hope for more of the same in the second half!!!

gobble gobble turkey

Give Teddy Ginn and the ST some love. That was Patrick Peterson they were covering there. And Teddy made something out of nothing on a couple of returns

As usual...great write up!

Originally posted by McLovinAlexSmith:
gobble gobble turkey

Gobble Gobble Jive Turkey.

Originally posted by qnnhan7:
Give Teddy Ginn and the ST some love. That was Patrick Peterson they were covering there. And Teddy made something out of nothing on a couple of returns

True.

Crabtree has some gorilla arms.(no racist) He should hopefully start getting some more targets in the redzone. I like how he said the him and Alex have been working on the redzone stuff, so hopefully last night was sign of whats to come between these two

Originally posted by Marvin49:

Originally posted by McLovinAlexSmith:
gobble gobble turkey

Gobble Gobble Jive Turkey.

Gobble gobble jive turkey gobblers

Originally posted by Marvin49:

Originally posted by McLovinAlexSmith:
gobble gobble turkey

Gobble Gobble Jive Turkey.

yah man that was classic comment. sometime JH is hilarious

40+ yarders passing tied for 2nd with 2. 20+ yarders 3rd with 16. Wonder how many of those were actually that long in the air? I would think those game from a short catch turned into a long gain. The Lions game Bell screen for 53? would be one of those 40+ yarders and that was a screen with a missed tackle.

Yeah, secondary is the best we have had in probably 10+ years. Maybe even mid to late 90s. Culliver, Brown are playing outstanding. Rogers isn't doing as well as last year but I would say he is giving up less big plays but just not getting as many ints. Still doing really good though. Whitner can struggle in coverage but he's still one of the top SS's and really just about all if not all SS struggle in coverage at times. Goldson is a top 2 or 3 FS. Who would have thought before the year started our passing d would be better than the run d? Honestly, I thought we would go from 16 to top 10 ish but #2 and was #1. Tied for 1st (ravens bears) in td's given up passing at 6. 2nd in QB rating at 72.6 against us, bears 1st at a ridiculous 62.0. Also, it's more impressive because we are 2nd in passing attempts against us at 41.4 a game behind only Miami at 44. 1st in ppg on d with 12.9. Man it has been a pleasure watching this d the past few years. You don't realize how lucky we are until you go back and look at those d's giving up 30 a game.

Originally posted by qnnhan7:
Give Teddy Ginn and the ST some love. That was Patrick Peterson they were covering there. And Teddy made something out of nothing on a couple of returns

This x infinity and beyond, the special teams is getting better and Ginn is gonna break one soon. Dude is making moves like Jagger out there

Fine post as usual.

Agree w/your comments and here are a few other observations.

Whitner had a very good game and also hits VERY hard.

Ginn is a real difference maker - 31 yard KO return and averaged 11 + yards on 5 punts.

Delaine getting that tipped pass was excellent concentration.

Brooks seems to be getting better every week

The fade pass to the corner on Crabs first TD by Alex was perfect.

Andy Lee's punts really negated Peterson's returns and did that excellent tackle by Spillman.

Culliver totally put the glove on Fitz.

The Coaching was very good in all aspects.

Keep 'em coming Marvin.

Good reading as always. One downside on the defense was all they were a little too jumpy falling for hard counts and getting penalties, especially in the 4th quarter. In one series, Lee punted the ball inside the 10. Two offside penalties later by Brooks and Smith and they're close to the 20. Luckily, this game was out of reach by that time, but still. I was as upset as Harbaugh was on the sidelines!

Otherwise, I liked how our D didn't give up a TD in garbage time. Cards got close, but we kept them out of the end zone.

And one last thing, the QB keeper play to gain a couple yards since they had no room for a kneel down, Smith went down too easily, might have been able to break a long run...just sayin. In fact, I was questioning why Kaep didn't take over mid-way into the 4th qtr when Smith may have done one PA pass and the rest were running plays. Protect Smith from injury and give our #2 QB some PT.

Originally posted by mcbaes72:

And one last thing, the QB keeper play to gain a couple yards since they had no room for a kneel down, Smith went down too easily, might have been able to break a long run...just sayin. In fact, I was questioning why Kaep didn't take over mid-way into the 4th qtr when Smith may have done one PA pass and the rest were running plays. Protect Smith from injury and give our #2 QB some PT.

It's not that he went down easy it's that he was leaning forward to push his way through and get us some breathing room. QBs don't expect to come out of the other side of a qb sneak. Wouldn't have mattered anyways, I don't want my QB running downfield up 24-3 (?). He probably would have slid down after awhile anyways to not get striped from behind or injured. Would have been stupid for him to take off and try to score. Guys would have caught up to him and if he doesn't slide and "tries for a td" which he would have never made it he could have got hurt or got the ball stripped.