Whos the most important player who has to step up for our playoff run?

Originally posted by Disp:
Kaep and the offensive line. We need 6 minute drives to give the defense a breather. The explosive plays are great, but the team has been far too "feast or famine" recently. Feels like just about every drive is either a 3 and out or a 40 yard td, and we've really moved away from our inside running game too much. Get the ball to James on a wham play and let's see what he can do. Less sweeps and runs on the outside, and more on the inside where this offense's bread and butter is.

Good points...

Originally posted by pete98146:
1. Our offensive line as a whole. When Kaep gets time he can do wonders.
2. Randy Moss. Losing Manningham and Kyle Williams is unfortunarte. Randy has to show up the entire game instead of giving us 3 or 4 catches.
3. Ray McDonald. We can't rely on Aldon to be the only person putting pressure on the QB. The other side of the DL needs to contribute to the pass rush.
4. Colin Kaepernick. Needs to dial in those passes. He's missing receivers by inches on some of those throws.
5. Jim Harbaugh/Greg Roman. Hey what does it take to get the plays in on time? If you don't, CK is overly worried about the play clock instead of making his pre toss reads.
6. David Akers. Come on buddy we need you!

#5 - CK deserves the majority of that blame.

Originally posted by UKNiners:
#5 - CK deserves the majority of that blame.

I think Kaep will get it down soon. He had no problems against the Patriots, but obviously struggled pretty hard against the Seahawks, and in some of the games before that. I think most people are forgetting that Smith had a hideous amount of delay of game/burned timeout through most of last season, but was a lot better towards the end of the year, and this year.

That's not an excuse for Kaepernick, but more saying that the system takes a bit of time for our qb's to get a grasp on, and after 6 games Kaep should hopefully be close. It's something that absolutely needs to be fixed though if we're going anywhere in the playoffs. Can't have drive killing penalties on the offense any more.

kap

definitely VD. i think kaep will be fun but when VD comes back he needs to make an impact

I'd like to see us get back to pounding the rock.

We all know Frank is gonna do his job.

So that puts the pressure on Roman to call the plays, the O-line to block there butts off and Keap to make the correct Audibles.

Originally posted by blm7754:

Let me also add that it I don't think it is just coincidence that our defense hasn't been as good since Kapernick took over. Smith could sustain long drives better than Kapernick... thus giving our defense a good breather.

Anybody know what our TOP is like with Kap vs Smith?

Really? The king of the three and out? I would have to think our TOP would be better now that S ugh is not starting. Anyone have the stats? Too busy to look it up 😁

David Akers

Originally posted by Jason:
Kap, Justin Smith, Akers

This.

Offensively, Kaepernick needs to improve his game-management / pre-snap reads so that our O-Line can be in the best position to perform the way they did through the first half of the season. This will enable us to sustain drives longer and eventually put up points when we get in scoring position. Longer drives on O means the D gets a longer chance to rest and adjust from the previous drive. If our QB improves, so does the team.

Defensively, IMO nobody needs to step up more than RJF. If he can hold up and play like he has in spot duty now with an increased workload, our pass rush will improve. Improved RJF means, Aldon and Brooks can hunt. A better pass rush means less coverage time for on the back-end for guys like Carlos Rogers and Donte Whitner who don't have the speed to stay in man coverage for prolonged periods of time.......Less time for the opposing QB gives us the ball back more often, increasing our scoring opportunities....If our D-Line improves, so does the team.


Special Teams it's David Akers for obvious reasons. Since we don't have a replacement for him we're gonna have to live and die off his leg........he better get it together ASAP....

Has to be VD

Originally posted by UKNiners:

Originally posted by pete98146:
1. Our offensive line as a whole. When Kaep gets time he can do wonders.
2. Randy Moss. Losing Manningham and Kyle Williams is unfortunarte. Randy has to show up the entire game instead of giving us 3 or 4 catches.
3. Ray McDonald. We can't rely on Aldon to be the only person putting pressure on the QB. The other side of the DL needs to contribute to the pass rush.
4. Colin Kaepernick. Needs to dial in those passes. He's missing receivers by inches on some of those throws.
5. Jim Harbaugh/Greg Roman. Hey what does it take to get the plays in on time? If you don't, CK is overly worried about the play clock instead of making his pre toss reads.
6. David Akers. Come on buddy we need you!

#5 - CK deserves the majority of that blame.

I would tend to agree, but I remember several instances where Kap is looking at the sidelines waiting for the playcall from the coaching staff. At what point does a QB just call a play if the coaching staff cannot get it in time?

Originally posted by fly15:
Kaep

Yeah, and I have very little expectation that he will.

Originally posted by pete98146:
1. Our offensive line as a whole. When Kaep gets time he can do wonders.
2. Randy Moss. Losing Manningham and Kyle Williams is unfortunarte. Randy has to show up the entire game instead of giving us 3 or 4 catches.
3. Ray McDonald. We can't rely on Aldon to be the only person putting pressure on the QB. The other side of the DL needs to contribute to the pass rush.
4. Colin Kaepernick. Needs to dial in those passes. He's missing receivers by inches on some of those throws.
5. Jim Harbaugh/Greg Roman. Hey what does it take to get the plays in on time? If you don't, CK is overly worried about the play clock instead of making his pre toss reads.
6. David Akers. Come on buddy we need you!

The title of the thread says Players not Coaches........and the onus to get the ball snapped in time has always been on the quarterback no matter what era, no matter what team. Our backup QB is extremely adept at recognizing what the coaches want and making the right calls at the line in a timely fashion. CK has been pretty poor in that department but that will come with more playing time IMO...

Simple RJF and Kap