NFC Championship Game: Thoughts after rewatching the game... | Page 5

Marvin49 · 2013-01-21T21:30:57-08:00

First off...sorry for the delay in this post. I was out of town and have only just now had a chance to rewatch and post. 1) Kaepernick: OK...Since I've gotten so much flack from peeps for making the comparison, I won't do it again here. I too believe that the case has been closed for a long time, but there are still others lurking in the grass who disagree. I'll take you guys at your word that this isn't the case and will expect not to see them spring up should the Niners lose on Feb 3rd. (yeah....right). Having said that....this kid just has "it". You can see it in the reactions from Vernon and Frank...the guys that were here when it was DARK. One of the biggest compliments you can get is Frank Gore calling you a "Football Player". Thats Frank-ese for "You are one bad mother f*****". I'll say it again here as I have been since I saw his first start in Chicago. I love the legs. I love the arm. I love his intelligence. I love his work ethic. None of those tho are his best attribute. Its his NERVE. He doesn't flinch. Ever. NFC Championship Game. Down 17 pts. On the road and the crowd is deafening. Just march down and score. Execute perfectly. No "rocket balls" as Holmgren would refer to Favre when he got amped up. First start on Monday Night against the vaunted Bears D? No Prob. Hottest team in the NFL in their loud house (Saints)? No biggy. Go to New England in Primetime in December? No worries. First playoff game? I'll just set an NFL record. You can just keep lining up these tests and he'll just keep knocking them out of the park. You need to look no further than #2 on the other sideline to see what I'm talking about. Matt Ryan had a fantastic game, but folded when it counted. He's done it every year he's been in the playoffs. Kaep was in just his 9th NFL start and you'd think he was a 10 year vet. You can't teach that. Its an attribute that the good ones don't have. Only the GREAT ones do. Mind you, the great ones usually don't have all the physical tools Kaep has. As I've said before, I'm typically not one to give into hyperbole. I don't usually buy into the hype. This guys tho? I'm baught in. 100%. I don't think he'll be a star. I think he'll be a superstar. Anyone who has talked to me on these boards knows that I'm not given to big statements like that. I honestly believe that tho. Its a great time toi be a Niner fan. 2) Crabtree: I have to give him points for showing up ready to play after the week he had. My hope and expectation is that this is just a learning experience and nothing more. If is real tho and he's guilty of what he was accused of, I'll never be able to root for him. I happen to think tho that he was setup. Some will say they are upset with his fumble at the one. I'm not one of them. Sometimes the defender just makes a good play and I think that's what happened. GREAT play by the DB. I'm just happy that he didn't become the next Earnest Byner. 3) Frank: Ya gotta love that this is all happening before Frank was done. I love that Harbaugh has turned this around in time for Frank to experience this. He's been here for a long time and seen some rough years. He's earned this. You can see it in his face and in his eyes. You can see it in his runs. The best part? He's healthy. He's fresh. He got to this point by being spelled by Hunter and James and he'll be at full strength in 2 weeks. Speaking of James, he's turning into quite a weapon. So quick. So fast. I'm interested to find out what happens next year when Hunter comes back. 4) The "Pattern": I have to be honest...that thing had me spooked. This was the best possible way to break it. I thought the Niners should win, but there was a big part of me that was telling me they wouldn't. Too many people were picking them to win. Too many people were discounting the Falcons. Too many times this season we had been burned just when it looked like the Niners were the best team in the NFL. No more. The Pattern is dead. 5) Goldson/Whitner: It can't all be good. LOL. Poor play in the secondary on multiple occasions. Out of position too many times and broken coverages resulting in points. We can't have that. They have 2 weeks to figure it out though and i trust that they can. It does make me nervous though. 6) Aldon: one thing I'm noticing that I don't like...teams are scheming him out of the pass rush by playing formations that force him to at least bumop a TE or reciever at the line. That greatly delays his rush. I don't know exactly what the thinking is there to have him out there, but I think thats one of the reasons for his drop in production. 7) Read-Option: I was really skeptical in preseason when I first saw Kaep running that stuff. Count me as one of those old school guys that thought the thing would never work in the pros. I was wrong in a big way. Same goes for the Pistol. ALOT of credit has to go to Harbaugh, Roman, and Baalke for seeing this a few years ago. Roman was still at Stanford when he visited Chris Ault at Nevada. I'm sure at some point someone will find the best way to defense it, but I don't think there is any one way that will shut it down completely. I think it's here to stay. Why? It's here to stay because it's viable. You can run multiple runs AND passes from it. This isn't the Wildcat which is pretty much just a run formation. Expect to see the Pistol all over the NFL next year and teams with an even remotely mobile QB will be running that option. 8) "The Cowboy": I just read something that made me real nervous. It was a report that Justin Smith wasn't planning on retiring after this season and that he might want to go 1 more year. Until I read that it had never crossed my mind that he would retire anytime soon. Say it ain't so Justin. I hope you are around for at least 3 or 4 more years. 9) Vernon: I was going to say that Vernon really showed up in this game, but I think thats actually inaccurate. I think he shows up in EVERY game, just not always as a receiver. All those deep passes that Kaep throws? Very often he's back there in protection while Delanie gets to run the route. He also often eats up coverage from the LBs and Safeties creating space for Crabtree and the other WRs. Bottom Line...he never went anywhere. This is pick your poison time. If Vernon isn't being doubled or is covered by a LB, Kaep will find him. Count on it. 10) Here we are agian: Ahhhhhh. ;-) All is right with the world. Playing for the prize again. Relevant again. I was too young to be a fan of the Niners in the 70's or even the early 80's. By the time I became a 49er fan they were already a few SBs into their run. I enjoyed watching them and the SB in '94 was my favorite. I got to see the transition to Steve and got to see that team grow into the team it became. This is something completely different. This is even sweeter. This is watching every single member of the team get drafted. Watching them develop. Watching them struggle. This is going through coach after coach looking for the next guy to take this team to the mountaintop. This ride leading up to now and in particular the last 2 years has been the most fun I've ever had as a 49er fan. Now lets get it. Lets get that 6th Lombardi. EDIT: It just occurs to me I forgot something important. 11) Defense: HUGE at the end there. Got manhandled early and made the plays they needed to when it counted. Brooks? HUGE plays down the stratch twice patting the ball down. Bowman? That was an incredible play on 4th and 4 at the end. BTW, that was NOT illegal contact. I've watched it 6 times now and it's right at 5 yards. Thats LEGAL. Also when Harry Douglas didn't make the catch that he was credited for? He grabbed Rogers by the collar and pulled him down. Thats how he got open. GREAT stand at the end. I couldn't NOT say that. MODS PLEASE MAKE THIS OFFICIAL. THANX MUCH.

Jan 22, 2013 at 8:32 AM

#61

guillotine31
Veteran
Posts: 117

Marvin is right about teams scheming Aldon to force him to bump the TE. He did a good job of that during the game and his motor is still running hot. I didn't see a lot of T/E stunts out of him and Cowboy because of the TE bumps. Pitta has had a few strong games in a row, so we'll see how this carries into the big game. If Aldon is chipping the TE, I'd like to see Brown and Culliver up on the LOS punching the WRs in the chest too. Might as well give our pass rush an extra second to get there.

I also noticed that we made adjustments with Aldon to counteract that problem. We moved him in to DT on some plays in the 2nd half. While we didn't get any big sacks, we upped the pressure significantly. We also stuck Culliver on White for the 2nd half and that obviously caused a TO.

Jan 22, 2013 at 8:33 AM

#62

Joecool
Veteran
Posts: 70,984

Originally posted by guillotine31:
Marvin is right about teams scheming Aldon to force him to bump the TE. He did a good job of that during the game and his motor is still running hot. I didn't see a lot of T/E stunts out of him and Cowboy because of the TE bumps. Pitta has had a few strong games in a row, so we'll see how this carries into the big game. If Aldon is chipping the TE, I'd like to see Brown and Culliver up on the LOS punching the WRs in the chest too. Might as well give our pass rush an extra second to get there.

I also noticed that we made adjustments with Aldon to counteract that problem. We moved him in to DT on some plays in the 2nd half. While we didn't get any big sacks, we upped the pressure significantly. We also stuck Culliver on White for the 2nd half and that obviously caused a TO.

Aldon started applying some nice pressure but damn that Matt Ryan, dude was getting the ball out in 2 seconds or less.

Jan 22, 2013 at 8:37 AM

#63

GhostofFredDean74
Hall of Fame
Posts: 30,082

Allowing Ryan to sit in a clean pocket for what seemed like forever, didn't help our secondary. Doesn't excuse Brown's bad play in the first half, but it wasn't a coincidence that he (and the entire defense) played better as we put more pressure on the QB.

Jan 22, 2013 at 8:39 AM

#64

guillotine31
Veteran
Posts: 117

Originally posted by Joecool:
Aldon started applying some nice pressure but damn that Matt Ryan, dude was getting the ball out in 2 seconds or less.

Outside of the pick (WR fell down) and fumble (sometimes the ball just bounces the wrong way) the guy looked awesome and he was putting the ball where he wanted, when he wanted. Amazing job by the D to shut them out in the 2nd half, given how fast he got the ball out and how his WRs were making plays for him.

Jan 22, 2013 at 8:42 AM

#65

Jiks
Member
Posts: 29,220

Originally posted by JBrack:

Originally posted by JiksJuicy:
Played much better in the second half. Dismal, dismal first half.

Im not sure he played any better, but I did notice Culliver was playing outside more in the 2nd half. He even got his pick lined up outside.

I think our defense as a whole just got back to square 1. 24 points in the first half, 0 in the second? Entire first half I really wasn't sure if we were going to be able to keep up with them. Our defense was getting beat at nearly every position. Willis was getting crushed by Gonzalez, Goldson(I'm pretty sure) let Jones get wide open, and Roddy White was finding the open spots as well. Not to mention Matt Ryan was getting all the time in the world.

Second half Aldon and Brooks started getting a little pressure. This helped the secondary because he wasn't getting so much time to pick us apart. The secondary clamped down and the open looks became much harder to find.

Terrel Brown didn't have his best day in the first half, but can't really name one player I thought played even decent. Second half was 100% different from every position.

Jan 22, 2013 at 8:45 AM

#66

btthepunk
Veteran
Posts: 23,304

The whole pass defense was torched in the first half. Julio Jones and Roddy White are both top 10 WR's though and the best tandem in the league. Throw in Gonzales and even the best defense will give up yards and TD's.
Even Revis would get burned by Jones.

Jan 22, 2013 at 8:46 AM

#67

JBrack
Member
Posts: 2,827

Originally posted by JiksJuicy:

Originally posted by JBrack:

Originally posted by JiksJuicy:
Played much better in the second half. Dismal, dismal first half.

Im not sure he played any better, but I did notice Culliver was playing outside more in the 2nd half. He even got his pick lined up outside.

I think our defense as a whole just got back to square 1. 24 points in the first half, 0 in the second? Entire first half I really wasn't sure if we were going to be able to keep up with them. Our defense was getting beat at nearly every position. Willis was getting crushed by Gonzalez, Goldson(I'm pretty sure) let Jones get wide open, and Roddy White was finding the open spots as well. Not to mention Matt Ryan was getting all the time in the world.

Second half Aldon and Brooks started getting a little pressure. This helped the secondary because he wasn't getting so much time to pick us apart. The secondary clamped down and the open looks became much harder to find.

Terrel Brown didn't have his best day in the first half, but can't really name one player I thought played even decent. Second half was 100% different from every position.

I think you are giving our defense to much credit here. Atl just shot themselves in the foot. The 2 turnovers by Ryan and the 2 personal fouls is what clinched the game for us IMO. Not so much the defensive play though.

Jan 22, 2013 at 8:48 AM

#68

Cjez
Hall of Fame
Posts: 170,525

goldson was SO close on that near INT. Jones is just a beast.

Jan 22, 2013 at 8:54 AM

#69

GhostofFredDean74
Hall of Fame
Posts: 30,082

Originally posted by JBrack:

Originally posted by JiksJuicy:

Originally posted by JBrack:

Originally posted by JiksJuicy:
Played much better in the second half. Dismal, dismal first half.

Im not sure he played any better, but I did notice Culliver was playing outside more in the 2nd half. He even got his pick lined up outside.

I think our defense as a whole just got back to square 1. 24 points in the first half, 0 in the second? Entire first half I really wasn't sure if we were going to be able to keep up with them. Our defense was getting beat at nearly every position. Willis was getting crushed by Gonzalez, Goldson(I'm pretty sure) let Jones get wide open, and Roddy White was finding the open spots as well. Not to mention Matt Ryan was getting all the time in the world.

Second half Aldon and Brooks started getting a little pressure. This helped the secondary because he wasn't getting so much time to pick us apart. The secondary clamped down and the open looks became much harder to find.

Terrel Brown didn't have his best day in the first half, but can't really name one player I thought played even decent. Second half was 100% different from every position.

I think you are giving our defense to much credit here. Atl just shot themselves in the foot. The 2 turnovers by Ryan and the 2 personal fouls is what clinched the game for us IMO. Not so much the defensive play though.

And you're not giving our defense enough. The defense forced those turnovers....they didn't just happen. Culliver jumped the route and made a great play to get the pick; as for the fumble, Ryan was worried about the pressure up the middle and took his eye off the snap.

Jan 22, 2013 at 8:56 AM

#70

Wrathman
Veteran
Posts: 3,260

Originally posted by LoneWolf:
Crabtree was holding the ball tight and to his body to protect it nothing more you could ask of him, The DB just did his job stripping the ball out ( and as you can see had a hell of a time getting it free) and the safety took away his last chance to recover by spearing him in the him. Good defensive play not really anything else.

I agree. Crabtree was holding it against his body. It was just a great play by 23. He tried with all his might to rip that ball out. I can't fault Crabtree, he is a playmaker. He doesn't fumble very often. It ended up being a blessing in disguise. It made Atlanta use more time off the clock, and still gave us good field position with the good run back by Ginn. Once we got the ball again, we were going to score regardless, and there was nothing they could do about it.

Oh and great post Marvin!
Go Niners!

Jan 22, 2013 at 8:56 AM

#71

DeepNinerValue
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Posts: 60,598

disagree with OP

Jan 22, 2013 at 9:00 AM

#72

Cjez
Hall of Fame
Posts: 170,525

Originally posted by Garcia:
disagree with OP

this. Atlanta has arguably the best two WR's in the league. I'd blame scheme more than any individual.

Jan 22, 2013 at 9:01 AM

#73

FlayvaMeister
Veteran
Posts: 7,565

Originally posted by ChazBoner:
goldson was SO close on that near INT. Jones is just a beast.

I actually thought it was picked, until I saw Julio advancing the ball ...

Jan 22, 2013 at 9:01 AM

#74

IdahoNiner
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Posts: 9,543

It was a rough first half for the entire defense.

Second half they got it going and had a shutout.

Jan 22, 2013 at 9:09 AM

#75

PowderdToastMn
Veteran
Posts: 9,043

Originally posted by KEGster:
As soon as he saw the safety coming, he should have taken a knee just like punt/kick returners do.

That's what defenders are instructed to do: stand up receivers and wait for help to come. He's lucky he didn't have his back broken. Not a risk needed with the way we were running. Spinning in front of safeties is asking for trouble

If he would have taken a knee people would be calling for his head. He did what I want my players doing, fight for yardage. Only problem is the ball was ripped out. I like that he plays hard and isn't a soft WR.