Week 13: Thoughts after rewatching the game...

Originally posted by socalfan21:
Lamichael needs to get a few snaps. The run game was missing some youth and athleticism. I did like that Jacobs got short yardage carries.

yea, we need LMJ desperately to fill the Hunter role. Gore was done by the 3rd quarter.

Originally posted by Marvin49:
So, I was too annoyed to wait until later to rewatch the game. Watched it again immediately.

1) Kaepernick: Lets everyone chill out for a sec. Nobody thought he was going to be perfect in every game this year. That's not the reason he was made the starter. First, the Intentional Grounding WASN'T intentional grounding. The ball started on the far hash and he was outside the tackle box. He threw the ball beyond the LOS. Lets not put a clear missed call on him. Second, the lateral. Bad play. No defending it, but lets be real here for a sec. Harbaugh/Roman NEVER should have called that play to begin with. The pitch itself was a "young QB" mistake and he's going to make those. He did enough tho to make up for it and if Delanie Walker can catch the damn ball he wins the game. Kaep STILL made plays that Alex could never make...and I say that as an Alex FAN. He escaped the rush on what would have been sacks several times...including the 50 yard run. He made throws Alex would never make (the outs to Crabtree and Manningham come to mind). It looks like the Rams were very concerned with Kaep completing passes deep down the field and were playong off for most of the game. Thats why the Niners were having success underneath. Kaep (just has he has in his last 2 starts) played very well on third down.

2) Play Calling: I am a Greg Roman fan. I've defended him time after time on this site. This game pissed my off from beginning to end. Ya know what Greg? Good things happen when Kaep gets to throw the ball. The pitch was a HORRIBLE call. Horrific. Almost as bad was the playcalling in overtime. They got the ball at the 50 and never took a shot. They have a QB now who can make those throws. You gotta use him. I also saw it in the red zone....2 runs that go nowhere, Kaep throws it to convert. Maybe try throwing it earlier

3) Defense: Great Game. They got let down by poor play on offense. They got pushed around a few weeks ago vs Jackson and made up for it today. Much better game.

4) Run game: Outside of a few plays at the beginning, they largely got shut down. Even thought they weren't having success, they just kept bashing against that brick wall. THROW THE DAMN BALL. Kaep can make plays Alex couldn't. LET HIM. I'm not saying stop running altogether. I'm just saying that sometimes one aspect of the game is working better.

5) Akers: I'm not a "cut this guy" kinda fan....but this is getting old.

6) Ginn: See #5.

7) LaMichael James: We need that outside speed element that Hunter gave them. Gore can thunder between the tackles and Hunter was a great change of pace. Jacobs is good for short yardage, but defenses are just condensing because they don't fear anyone getting out to the perimeter. It's time to activate LaMichael James

8) Manningham: I hope he's not hurt too bad. He's really becoming a clutch player.

9) Walker: WILDLY inconsistent. Athletically a game-changer, but the guy just seems to fight the ball. Two more drops and one of them was a perfect pass that would likely have won the game.

10) Penalties: I dunno if its the domes on the road or what, but the penalties are getting rediculous. Those 10 yard penaties are drive killers. Niners need to fix that crap. NOW.

EDIT: Had to add....
11) Crabtree: Looking like the guy we wanted him to be on draft day. Can create when the play breaks down. Kaepernick-Crabtree are going to be a threat for a long-long time. On that topic, a dynamic passer like Kaepernick will make it easier to keep and sign WRs and TEs in the offseason.

I agree with the above. Kaep gets the safety on him. He never should have entered the endzone. Once he did he had to get rid of it better.

Originally posted by LBSI9ers:
I agree with the above. Kaep gets the safety on him. He never should have entered the endzone. Once he did he had to get rid of it better.

Talk about boneheaded plays... He run a good 8-10 yds into the end zone then had no choice but to throw it. Maybe he thought he can escape anything like Houdini...

Originally posted by Marvin49:
So, I was too annoyed to wait until later to rewatch the game. Watched it again immediately.

1) Play Calling: I am a Greg Roman fan. I've defended him time after time on this site. This game pissed my off from beginning to end. Ya know what Greg? Good things happen when Kaep gets to throw the ball. The pitch was a HORRIBLE call. Horrific. Almost as bad was the playcalling in overtime. They got the ball at the 50 and never took a shot. They have a QB now who can make those throws. You gotta use him. I also saw it in the red zone....2 runs that go nowhere, Kaep throws it to convert. Maybe try throwing it earlier

The pitch was not a horrible call. Horribly executed but not a horrible call.

Originally posted by johnnyredneat:
Great read as usual. I'd add a few points:
1. I'd definitely add that Kaep seemed to really struggle pre-snap. Not reading blitzes, frantic audibles with 2 seconds on the play clock, constantly burning time outs. We burned all our timeouts to avoid delay penalties in what was a close game throughout. Ultimately didn't have an impact, but could absolutely have cost us the game. This is another thing that took a while to sort out when AS was the QB.
2. We're built to run the ball and throw short/medium timing routes. It's the way the whole team is constructed, it's how we've played since Harbaugh became coach. It's what we've practiced every day for two years. Changing to a more downfield vertical stretch offense isn't going to be an easy process.
3. A screen or two would have been nice against their constant up-the-middle A-Gap blitzes.

We NEVER run HB screens. I was screaming at my TV the whole game for one. Get rid of all of the read options and do a HB screen a couple of times per game instead. Roman must hate HB screens for some reason because I think we ran only two screens the entirety of last season.

And if we face the Giants in the post season, we better consider running a screen or two in that game.

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:

Originally posted by Marvin49:
So, I was too annoyed to wait until later to rewatch the game. Watched it again immediately.

1) Play Calling: I am a Greg Roman fan. I've defended him time after time on this site. This game pissed my off from beginning to end. Ya know what Greg? Good things happen when Kaep gets to throw the ball. The pitch was a HORRIBLE call. Horrific. Almost as bad was the playcalling in overtime. They got the ball at the 50 and never took a shot. They have a QB now who can make those throws. You gotta use him. I also saw it in the red zone....2 runs that go nowhere, Kaep throws it to convert. Maybe try throwing it earlier

The pitch was not a horrible call. Horribly executed but not a horrible call.

I thought it was both.

Originally posted by MrTruth:

Originally posted by LBSI9ers:
I agree with the above. Kaep gets the safety on him. He never should have entered the endzone. Once he did he had to get rid of it better.

Talk about boneheaded plays... He run a good 8-10 yds into the end zone then had no choice but to throw it. Maybe he thought he can escape anything like Houdini...

but he did escape, and properly threw the ball back to the line of scrimmage.

If Alex made the same play and the Refs messed that up, what would some of his defenders say? Would they blame Alex or blame the refs?

Originally posted by Afrikan:
but he did escape, and properly threw the ball back to the line of scrimmage.

If Alex made the same play and the Refs messed that up, what would some of his defenders say? Would they blame Alex or blame the refs?

Alex Smith wouldn't do that now... He's too smart, experienced and battle tested... AS back 4-5 years ago might have... Furthermore, AS wouldn't run into the end zone, I think CK was over confident in his legs on that play. The kid is after all inexperienced.

Good post! Agree with the points.

The one that ticked me off the most was the play calling. Why is this so inconsistent? In one game, Roman throws everything in the book at the opposition. Seems like every play has a different lineup with respect to formations.

Creative. Unpredictable. Unbalanced.

Run out of Passing formations. Passing out of running formations. Throwing to anybody and everybody. Counter plays. Misdirection.

Where was that yesterday? I just don't understand why it changes so much from game to game.

It's not that Kaepernick made that mistake, it's that the coaches put him in position to make that mistake. That may have been the worst play call I have ever seen (seriously). Roman tries to get too cute. You're going to have some bonehead plays with a young qb (i.e. running out of bounds) but that's what Harbaugh signed up for. Also, I agree with the Akers/Ginn comments. Just move on at this point. Akers can't hit anything past 40 yards and Ginn has no business ever being on the field on offense. Losing Hunter was big. They need to at least see what James can do.

Good read as always. And I know you alluded to it , but they are gonna miss Hunter.

** Kaepernick made mistakes that cost us the game but I thought the play calling was the worst all season or in the two years of this regime.

*** I thought Kaepernick made good throws on third downs. If Walker made the catch or if Akers made that kick would people still be wanting Alex Smith to return as the starter? Probably not so Kaepernick made crucial mistakes and yet we still had chances to win this game. Alex Smith when negative plays occur we would never be in position to win the game in the end.

The last four games just got more important especially with a win by Seattle and Green Bay and Giants still in position to steal the #2 seed from us. But we will win our division and we will be the #2 see. Why because we have a good team and good coaches whom will learn from this game.

Kaepernick made mistakes but also made up for them. He put the team in a position to win the game and DWalker (this guy is so frustrating) could not handle a perfectly thrown pass, and then followed it up with a holding pass.
In OT the team gets the ball at midfield and simply go conservative to put the game on the leg of a struggling kicker.

Excellent post as usual Marvin.

A painful game to watch, especially twice. I think you are being too easy on Kaepernick, but posters who say this or that would have happened if Alex were playing instead are delusional. The D would have been much different against Alex. Who knows what would have happened? He is 20-6 though. I think he has a much better grasp of play calling at the line of scrimmage, and that helps the run game. Can't wait till next week to wash the bitter taste of this game away.

Good post - once again.

My 3 cents.

1).