First Half Woes

What's wrong with our team in the first half, particularly the defense? Towards the end of the season, especially after the New England game, our team for some reason could not play soundly in the first half. Take for example:

Week 16 @ Seattle: 28-6 at the half, Seattle winning.
Week 17 vs. Arizona: 7-6 at the half, 49ers winning against a horrible Cardinals team.
Week 19 vs. Green Bay: 24-21 at the half, 49ers winning (we actually played "decently" here)
Week 20 @ Atlanta: 24-14 at the half, Atlanta winning. We were down 17-0 at one point, and when we were coming back, we allowed the Falcons to get a late TD.
Super Bowl vs. Baltimore: 21-6 at the half, 28-6 after opening kick off return. Could've been 31-6 if not for a fake field goal.

The difference between the first half and the second half are two different teams. In the first half, we were outscored 100 to 57 in these games. In 3 of the 5 games, we only had 7 points or less to end the first half. Now, in the second half? We outscored our opponents 87 to 44. Much, much better. The defense came to play. Not to mention, some of those points were garbage time points, particularly that heave and pray TD pass by the Cardinals on 4th and long, and the TD by Rodgers with 50ish seconds left in the game. So, that's only 30 meaningful points in the second half our team allowed, take away 7 for the kickoff return TD by Baltimore and it's only 23 meaningful points in the second half our defense allowed.. That's outstanding, less than 5 points for the second half allowed by our defense.

But what's different in the first half? If we could play a solid two halves EVEN every other game, this team would be down right dominate. I expect a let down here and there, but a bad half every game? I think this has to be on the coaches more than anyone.

Another interesting tidbit, Jim Harbaugh's first 31 games (including playoffs), we only allowed more than 30 points once (against the Saints in that explosive 4th quarter playoff game). Only ONCE in THIRTY-ONE games. That is damn outstanding. But in the last 6 games (including playoffs)? Four times. FOUR times. What the bloody hell happened to this team at the end of the season?

This s**t better be addressed in the offseason. That and Goodell needs to fix this reffing issue. This year has been one of the worst years for officiating that I've seen in a long, long time.

Originally posted by ElDannMann:

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Another interesting tidbit, Jim Harbaugh's first 31 games (including playoffs), we only allowed more than 30 points once (against the Saints in that explosive 4th quarter playoff game). Only ONCE in THIRTY-ONE games. That is damn outstanding. But in the last 6 games (including playoffs)? Four times. FOUR times. What the bloody hell happened to this team at the end of the season?

This s**t better be addressed in the offseason. That and Goodell needs to fix this reffing issue. This year has been one of the worst years for officiating that I've seen in a long, long time.

My view: the defense was gassed by the end of the season. With Justin Smith playing hurt, there was a sharp dropoff in defense performance. Aldon Smith pretty much went AWOL.

--Third cornerback Chris Culliver allowed just four catches while being targeted nine times. But those four catches went for 123 yards and a touchdown. He also got flagged for pass interference on a third-down play. (Coach Jim Harbaugh said afterward he thought it was a bad call.)

--Safety Donte Whitner allowed five catches for 57 yards and two touchdowns among the six passes that came his way.

Originally posted by defenderDX:
--Third cornerback Chris Culliver allowed just four catches while being targeted nine times. But those four catches went for 123 yards and a touchdown. He also got flagged for pass interference on a third-down play. (Coach Jim Harbaugh said afterward he thought it was a bad call.)

--Safety Donte Whitner allowed five catches for 57 yards and two touchdowns among the six passes that came his way.

That's horrible. I think Culliver will be a good CB. He's still young. He just had horrible timing of which game he decided not to show up to play.

The main thing I think that needs to be addressed this offseason is getting this team ready to play a full four quarters, not just two.

Originally posted by ElDannMann:

Originally posted by defenderDX:

--Third cornerback Chris Culliver allowed just four catches while being targeted nine times. But those four catches went for 123 yards and a touchdown. He also got flagged for pass interference on a third-down play. (Coach Jim Harbaugh said afterward he thought it was a bad call.)

--Safety Donte Whitner allowed five catches for 57 yards and two touchdowns among the six passes that came his way.

That's horrible. I think Culliver will be a good CB. He's still young. He just had horrible timing of which game he decided not to show up to play.

The main thing I think that needs to be addressed this offseason is getting this team ready to play a full four quarters, not just two.

Our head coach needs a big ego check, blaming refs when his team and coaches are unprepared is a bit worrisome

Originally posted by SealTeam6:

Originally posted by ElDannMann:

Originally posted by defenderDX:
--Third cornerback Chris Culliver allowed just four catches while being targeted nine times. But those four catches went for 123 yards and a touchdown. He also got flagged for pass interference on a third-down play. (Coach Jim Harbaugh said afterward he thought it was a bad call.)

--Safety Donte Whitner allowed five catches for 57 yards and two touchdowns among the six passes that came his way.

That's horrible. I think Culliver will be a good CB. He's still young. He just had horrible timing of which game he decided not to show up to play.

The main thing I think that needs to be addressed this offseason is getting this team ready to play a full four quarters, not just two.

Our head coach needs a big ego check, blaming refs when his team and coaches are unprepared is a bit worrisome

The scary thing is, we could've still won even if we got one or two of those calls that seem to should have been called. And that's just with the 49ers playing two quarters.

What happens if we can play a full four quarters? The Super Bowl's not even close...

Playbook is covering all these points right now from how poor Aldon is against the run at setting the edge, how slow the CB's were to "helium" passes...they even highlighted the across the body, all arm throw to the sideline, baiting Aldon, stepping backwards. Horrible break by Brown. That's a PERFECT pick-6. Unbelievable how slow he reacted to the receiver, NOT the ball. Whitner, Goldson, Aldon, tons of missed tackles esp. behind the LOS. We STILL can't cover anyone (I called Pitta getting an easy TD) in the middle of the field IN the EZ inside the RZ Bowman/Willis/Goldson/Whitner. We're SUPER soft here and the easiest throw for a QB to see and throw.

They said Brooks had a great game...anyone else?

Originally posted by NCommand:
Playbook is covering all these points right now from how poor Aldon is against the run at setting the edge, how slow the CB's were to "helium" passes...they even highlighted the across the body, all arm throw to the sideline, baiting Aldon, stepping backwards. Horrible break by Brown. That's a PERFECT pick-6. Unbelievable how slow he reacted to the receiver, NOT the ball. Whitner, Goldson, Aldon, tons of missed tackles esp. behind the LOS. We STILL can't cover anyone (I called Pitta getting an easy TD) in the middle of the field IN the EZ inside the RZ Bowman/Willis/Goldson/Whitner. We're SUPER soft here and the easiest throw for a QB to see and throw.

They said Brooks had a great game...anyone else?

yeah we're not as great as we think we are. need to face the reality and stop fooling ourselves. our pass defense needs to get better.

Originally posted by ElDannMann:

Originally posted by SealTeam6:

Originally posted by ElDannMann:

Originally posted by defenderDX:
--Third cornerback Chris Culliver allowed just four catches while being targeted nine times. But those four catches went for 123 yards and a touchdown. He also got flagged for pass interference on a third-down play. (Coach Jim Harbaugh said afterward he thought it was a bad call.)

--Safety Donte Whitner allowed five catches for 57 yards and two touchdowns among the six passes that came his way.

That's horrible. I think Culliver will be a good CB. He's still young. He just had horrible timing of which game he decided not to show up to play.

The main thing I think that needs to be addressed this offseason is getting this team ready to play a full four quarters, not just two.

Our head coach needs a big ego check, blaming refs when his team and coaches are unprepared is a bit worrisome

The scary thing is, we could've still won even if we got one or two of those calls that seem to should have been called. And that's just with the 49ers playing two quarters.

What happens if we can play a full four quarters? The Super Bowl's not even close...

I think that the only way that we're going to be able to play a full four quarters is to get better depth along the defensive line for a rested rotation and some large, physical corners who can really challenge a receiver in the mold of what Seattle has. We're just never really that competitive for the ball.

Originally posted by sacguy08:

Originally posted by ElDannMann:

Originally posted by SealTeam6:

Originally posted by ElDannMann:

Originally posted by defenderDX:
--Third cornerback Chris Culliver allowed just four catches while being targeted nine times. But those four catches went for 123 yards and a touchdown. He also got flagged for pass interference on a third-down play. (Coach Jim Harbaugh said afterward he thought it was a bad call.)

--Safety Donte Whitner allowed five catches for 57 yards and two touchdowns among the six passes that came his way.

That's horrible. I think Culliver will be a good CB. He's still young. He just had horrible timing of which game he decided not to show up to play.

The main thing I think that needs to be addressed this offseason is getting this team ready to play a full four quarters, not just two.

Our head coach needs a big ego check, blaming refs when his team and coaches are unprepared is a bit worrisome

The scary thing is, we could've still won even if we got one or two of those calls that seem to should have been called. And that's just with the 49ers playing two quarters.

What happens if we can play a full four quarters? The Super Bowl's not even close...

I think that the only way that we're going to be able to play a full four quarters is to get better depth along the defensive line for a rested rotation and some large, physical corners who can really challenge a receiver in the mold of what Seattle has. We're just never really that competitive for the ball.

Depth could play deeply into this. Especially considering we're a football team that controls the trenches. However, without depth on the D-Line, you can't control the trenches the whole game like we like.

Hopefully we can get some good, solid players via draft and free agency to spell Justin Smith more.