Week 14: Thoughts after rewatching the game...

1) Roman is incredibly good at what he did at Stanford - calling/designing run plays. Unfortunately, he is incredibly bad at calling/designing effective pass plays.

2) The offense is not good and/or confident enough to overcome a mistake. Any penalty, missed opportunity, (etc) kills the drive. A dropped pass on 2nd down leads to a panicky/desperate 3rd & 7 that is doomed to failure before the play is even called.

3) Rogers looks more like the guy he was in Washington for 6 years and less like the guy he was for us last year. The regression appears to be mental more than anything else.

4) We suck on 3rd down. Hard.

5) Frank Gore is the only part of the offense that is consistently good. Crab is getting there but VD continues to disappear.

Marvin, I forgot to mention how good your standard rewatch summary is. Thanks for that. As for the alex/Kap thing, you're right, to a point that we disagree. My point was, however, if kap stays, then roman has to be cut out of the loop. It is the sloppy, timely progression of getting a play to kap that is the killer here, the ONE WORST Thing about the entire game. We can't beat good teams dribbling in plays...and late at that. So if we go with kap, then a) cut roman out of the loop. As mentioned he is a good call/bad call guy, and I would rather see Harbaw call the plays. The reason is just to get the timing down to let Kap have a chance. As it is now , he is set up to FAIL...and none of us want that. Make the call circuit shorter, eliminate roman and let kap and jimbo go after it.

Option 2: If cutting roman out of circuit doesn't work, or more likely doesn't happen, I would go to an all time 2 minute offense, which kap knows how to run. Then cut all the bullschdit out about this melodrama of not getting plays in on time. Right now, our playcalling routing is enough to eliminate us in the first post season game. If coach doesn't know that I would be dumbfounded. But we HAVE TO GET THE CALLS IN and ON TIME. Anything else and either kap or alex will most certainly fail. My point about alex is he is already hardened in this bs screwed up play calling mess. Coach is going to look really funny with egg on his face because he couldn't get the damned plays in on time. Personally, i would rather see kap go 2 min, call his own plays and have a go at that.

I really liked the use of the Pistol formation in the game. It worked pretty well I thought. I'd like to see more of it. Gore +LaMike + Kaep + a blocker (was Dixon in there at blocker by the way?) in the backfield is a lot for a D to deal with.

SunDevil, I have posted on this elsewhere, but if Kap were to play one step back, say 4 steps behind LOS, he would have that tiny bit of extra time. My guess is we play pistol 90% of time within one yr when kap masters it. Watching RG3 run it to perfection, you can see it has kap written all over it.

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:

Marvin, I forgot to mention how good your standard rewatch summary is. Thanks for that. As for the alex/Kap thing, you're right, to a point that we disagree. My point was, however, if kap stays, then roman has to be cut out of the loop. It is the sloppy, timely progression of getting a play to kap that is the killer here, the ONE WORST Thing about the entire game. We can't beat good teams dribbling in plays...and late at that. So if we go with kap, then a) cut roman out of the loop. As mentioned he is a good call/bad call guy, and I would rather see Harbaw call the plays. The reason is just to get the timing down to let Kap have a chance. As it is now , he is set up to FAIL...and none of us want that. Make the call circuit shorter, eliminate roman and let kap and jimbo go after it.

Option 2: If cutting roman out of circuit doesn't work, or more likely doesn't happen, I would go to an all time 2 minute offense, which kap knows how to run. Then cut all the bullschdit out about this melodrama of not getting plays in on time. Right now, our playcalling routing is enough to eliminate us in the first post season game. If coach doesn't know that I would be dumbfounded. But we HAVE TO GET THE CALLS IN and ON TIME. Anything else and either kap or alex will most certainly fail. My point about alex is he is already hardened in this bs screwed up play calling mess. Coach is going to look really funny with egg on his face because he couldn't get the damned plays in on time. Personally, i would rather see kap go 2 min, call his own plays and have a go at that.

Just saw someone posted that Harbaugh already confirmed that the play was given to Kaep on time but it was what happened next that prolonged it.

- 98

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:
SunDevil, I have posted on this elsewhere, but if Kap were to play one step back, say 4 steps behind LOS, he would have that tiny bit of extra time. My guess is we play pistol 90% of time within one yr when kap masters it. Watching RG3 run it to perfection, you can see it has kap written all over it.

Yeah I agree, I'd love to see Kaep in Pistol more often. Its always been one of my favourite formations becuase its so easy to quickly over power any gap and create mis-direciton run plays (ie Kaep's untouched TD run). I think its such a tough position to stop.

And like I said LaMike + Gore + Kaep are an ideal fit for Pistol formation. Althought I actually think its more accurately called a Pistol -Full House with what they are doing? Thats the formation I'm talking about, not the standard Pistol. Where you have QB lined up in near-shotgun with RB behind him, RB to his right, and usually FB to the left although its interchangeable. Heck I think we could even put Delanie back there in the Full House. It was either Dixon or Delanie that was back at the FB spot for a play, can't remember.

AD is as good as any of our o-linemen...who thought that would happen after his rookie year. Oh wait, I did.

1. We really miss both Hunter and Kyle Williams. That and Ted Ginn is done.
2. CK needs a few more seconds to deliver the medium length pass and our O Line is struggling to give him enough time.
3. We only get a consistant pass rush from the Smith Brothers.
4. Culliver is our best CB.
5. We really need a Torey Smith type of receiver on this squad.

1) CK has come down to earth and is less explosive with more exposure.
2) Smith may be back in the lineup before the playoffs.
3) Incorporating screen plays, hooks over the middle and swing passes on a regular basis will help the run game and the passing game.
4) CK is more effective than I ever thought possible this year, but is still a ways from reading defenses well enough.
5) Penalties are getting just ridiculous, but not sure if the refs are calling closer or if team is just being dumb.

Originally posted by Marvin49:
1) Kaepernick: Another solid but unspectacular day. Defenses definitely have adjusted to his deep passing and he is in the process of adjusting to that coverage. They are actually doing him a BIG favor BTW. The coverage adjustment forces him to learn and thats EXACTLY what you want. One thing to take note of tho...these teams he's played against aren't cream puffs. The Saints aren't a good D, but that was a LOUD Superdome. The Bears, the Rams, and the Dolphins all have strong D's with a good pass rush. He's stood in there with all of those teams. These games in New England and Seattle while very important are also FANTASTIC chances for Kaep to see the type of environments he might see in the playoffs. He is getting battle tested. Outside of the pick against the Saints that I think was more a result of a bad snap that forced him to take his eyes off the D (still a mistake by Kaep tho), he hasn't made any "OMG, what a rookie throw" type passes. When he drops back and lets a deep pass fly, I now expect good things to happen. That pass to Moss was on the money. When Alex made those throws, I expected the ball to be 5-10 years beyond the WR (and I say that as a guy who has defended Alex on these boards for years). He does need to work on his clock management. No doubt. That is where his youth is appearant. I'm sure that will be point of emphasis for Harbaugh. Finally, I was watching the 49ers postgame show on Comcast Bay Area after the game and was reading all of the Tweets from people who were calling for Kaeps head. Seriously? These peeps are watching a different game than I am. The struggles the Niners had in this game were in protection and penalties, not QB play. Kaep can't block Cameron Wake. One of those sacks was an unblocked Wake and MAYBE there was an issue in the protection call (I have no idea), but Kaep wasn't the issue here.

Maybe that is because you don't acknowledge that he missed 2 wide open TD's (overthrew Crabs, had a wide open Moss running a post but failed to see it), also missed a wide open Gore who had a first down and tons of room to operate (dangerous with a stud like Gore), and threw it 3 yards on a 3rd and 5 (I thought he didn't do that like Alex). He won and actually looked a lot like Alex IMO which is fine by me (because ... wait for it .... that is how our offense operates, conservative). But he is bound to make some dumb mistakes just based on inexperience which will probably cost us big time in the playoffs.

Originally posted by SunDevilNiner79:

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:
SunDevil, I have posted on this elsewhere, but if Kap were to play one step back, say 4 steps behind LOS, he would have that tiny bit of extra time. My guess is we play pistol 90% of time within one yr when kap masters it. Watching RG3 run it to perfection, you can see it has kap written all over it.

Yeah I agree, I'd love to see Kaep in Pistol more often. Its always been one of my favourite formations becuase its so easy to quickly over power any gap and create mis-direciton run plays (ie Kaep's untouched TD run). I think its such a tough position to stop.

And like I said LaMike + Gore + Kaep are an ideal fit for Pistol formation. Althought I actually think its more accurately called a Pistol -Full House with what they are doing? Thats the formation I'm talking about, not the standard Pistol. Where you have QB lined up in near-shotgun with RB behind him, RB to his right, and usually FB to the left although its interchangeable. Heck I think we could even put Delanie back there in the Full House. It was either Dixon or Delanie that was back at the FB spot for a play, can't remember.

you're referring to the Diamond Formation, I love it too http://smartfootball.com/offense/the-diamond-formation-and-other-multi-back-pistol-sets

Originally posted by Marvin49:
Well that has kinda been the offense for 2 years now and the same back at Stanford. Stanford has been TE central for a few years now.

Yes but we have no passing coordinator and we have not had to many big TE plays made recently. Watching Patriot/Houston game and I believe our defense will be in nickel and dime sets like against Green Bay. But we need to cut down penalties and be more aggressive with our pass plays. Suspect that Belicheck will stop our run and challenge Kaepernick to beat them with his arm.

LOL...looks like this thread got kinda hosed when it was merged....now shows Denali as the person who started it. He must have posted his thread before I posted mine.

All Well...just kinda looks funky now and out of order.

Originally posted by Jersey9er:

Well i watched again, and gonna be honest, i didnt see what some saw. And i have to say we in the zone are about 50-50. Which is some see half full, some half empty.

To say the kid doesnt have talent is an understatement. I'm gonna just go by stats over the past two games, thats simple. No passing Td's to a TE or WR in the last two games. Yup i said it correctly not one.

The rushing TD was cool this week, then i think he broke off one last week. But no one noticing a pattern. Good for one long run. and to me doesnt take the place of the entire game.

Im seeing more and more growing pains, but thats to be expected. Not gonna go into too much, cuz then the birds gonna come out, and oh yeah that aint right.

But i mean who cares. WE are in the zone to give our opinion, not have it liked by everyone.

I'm not gonna start with the Smith crap, because to be honest, I didnt talk about the backup ever as a 49er fan, and like the kid or not, he's not the starter.

[b]I'll just say, had the QB previously not thrown a TD in two straight games, the zone would explode. Now dont get me wrong, CRabs is killing, but thats about it right now. Gore is MVP like as usual. How many 3 and outs did we have this week. I dont think we converted a third down until the 3rd of 4th quarter. But he played pretty good. Maybe i'm just missing something.

The last two weeks, i can count on two hands, how many deep balls he's thrown. You know the one that keeps him the starter. Even the announcers said in the 4th quarter, well we've only seen that one deep ball to Moss, but isnt this one of the reasons he's starting.

Now once again, is he playing like crap hell no. He's playing like a 2nd year quarterback with his first starting experience. And is 3-1. But i see him being bailed out just like the QB previously was. And witout the point in turnovers that Kaep is benefitting from. I mean two straight weeks a turnover in the beginning and the defense, and this week special teams bails him out.

I say give the kid his props, lets stop hoping he fails (some of us) just so Smith can be put in. Just support, and root for whomever is behind center.
But in no way sugarcoat what u see, regardless of any heat u get from fans, because we are all fans at the end of the day.

As we all say Go Niners!

Actually Alex has not thrown TDs twice this season and 5 times last season. The difference is teams were daring smith to beat them deep and are doing whatever they can to not let Kaepernick beat them deep. You should see results soon because not all defenses have the talent to be able to stop the run and the deep pass. We just so happened to go against 2 good run stoping teams.

any links to where I can re-watch the game?