Credence for Steve Young's Comments

Originally posted by merm49:

One of the things making the loss so tough to deal with for me is the fear that teams will adjust and adapt to the Pistol formation and greatly limit its effectiveness, counterracting one of our greatest advantages.

Steve Young recently made comments to that end, stating that one could make the argument that the Niners really had to get it done this year because the league evolves and adjusts, and next year, teams will be ready for the Pistol. We already saw that to some degree in the CG and SB, as ATL and BAL played Kaep on the read-option and forced him to hand it off on nearly every play.

Now, let me state that I fully believe Kaep is the real deal and elite QB in the making; everyone, from commentators to opponents like Suggs, are raving about CK7, and I couldn't be happier that he is our QB of the future or with his spectacular run this year. He is, quite simply, a revelation. I also understand that the Pistol is less and offense and more a scheme or formation that allows for all types of runs and passes to be called. You have to believe that, just as Ds will adapt to the Pistol, Harbaugh and Kaep will continue to innovate and improve as well.

But what do you guys think. Is it a relevant concern going forward or a non-issue?

It will be like the plan Shannan has for RG3: turn him into a pocket passer. You can still implement QB runs, play actions, and rollouts out of it.

Took teams 4 years to figure out the cowpukes.

Kaepernick's strengths are his arm, his height, his work ethic, his poise, his accuracy, his pocket awareness and his amazing speed. None of these things depend on a particular set for success.

His weaknesses right now are the tendency to stare down receivers and his pre-snap routine. Both of these issues will be fixed with a cohesive off-season of work in an offense built around him.

Teams will get sucked in to stop the Read option and then IFFFF our WRs and VD can beat the one on one playaction over the top, it will open up a whole new can of worms for defenses and We should average 30.0 points a game. Just look at the Super Bowl, we settled for 2 Fgs inside the 10 yard line in the 1st half and still managed to get a 300 yard passer, 2 100 yard recievers and Gore got 100 yards rushing! Our problem was our defense coulnd't get off the field on 3rd downs and Lamike's fumble and again settling Fgs inside the 10 yardline and we still caught up after failing 28-6. I see nothing but a bright 4 -5 year window and we can stay healthy and get some reinforcements on defense. And Yes, Aldon Smith ISSSSS hurt, I seen him grabbing his shoulder atleast 5 times during the course of the game. We'll be fine because Kaepe has a rocket arm and will be a bit more seasoned. He's got 10 starts for crying out loud. Alex Smith was 1-9 in his 1st 10 starts. Kaepe needs reps and mistakes will be made but we'll be so good & explosive that we should be able to overcome it.

Originally posted by GNielsen:

Kaepernick's strengths are his arm, his height, his work ethic, his poise, his accuracy, his pocket awareness and his amazing speed. None of these things depend on a particular set for success.

His weaknesses right now are the tendency to stare down receivers and his pre-snap routine. Both of these issues will be fixed with a cohesive off-season of work in an offense built around him.

You don't want to have the habit of staring down receivers because the defender can easily home in on the target and get a pick. Got to develop that QB vision

this was already discussed in the kap thread don't see a need for a new thread

Originally posted by ace49ers:
Pistol/Read is a change up, the WCO and run heavy will be staple plays throughout the season. If a defense cant handle the Pistol then give them the quick death.

49ers will be even scarier next season. There won't be enough days in the week for teams to prepare for us.

Wasnt the pistol inserted to help kaep out because he had some trouble taking snaps under center?

our offense is always changing. And kaep is not just a pistol qb he can flourish in any O.

The corollary of Young's remark is that Kaep and the offense are near the peak of their development curves. I find that hard to believe, especially when you consider that Kaep came in mid-season and it took the better part of the remainder of the season to get the offense up to speed. Indeed, it continued to suffer from inconsistency throughout the season. As amazing as the offense was at times, it was equally woeful at other times. So it seems kinda silly to me to talk about the rest of the league adjusting to us without considering the adjustments and refinements that we'll be putting into place during Kaep's first off season program.

I think the world of Young, but I think he's guilty of the widespread notion that the Niners' season was a normal season. That's hogwash. Whenever you swap QBs mid-season, you're in a transition year. Particularly when you swap QBs with such different skill sets. Next year's defenses may be more prepared for the read option, but I think it's foolish to suggest that our offense isn't going to be a much better, more prepared, and more smoothly running machine. Once the rough edges from this season have been sanded off and the necessary polish (that only an off season can provide) has been implemented, this offense has the potential to be a real juggernaut.

The key to understanding Kaep is that defenses can do either of two things well against him...but they can't do both. In that regard, then, the advantage is going to remain firmly with the offense.

Young has also said he's jealous that Kaepernick got to run a set like the Pistol and he wished it would have been in the playbook when he was with the Niners. I detect a little sour grapes with Young on the way everyone is swooning over Kaepernick. Young had the misfortune of beginning his run after a long period of success. Kaepernick begins his run after a long period of failure. It's a different dynamic and I think it kind of annoys Young a little bit.

Build a bigger mouse trap? Build a bigger mouse...

Meaning that Kaep and Roman have to evolve their game as well.

I hate Steve Young as an analyst he speaks and he doesnot seem to think about what he is saying. Kaep first game he said to use his legs, Kaep passed better than expected. When Alex lost his job, Steve was not for it. He forgot he wanted to take Joe Montanas job, but Alex was to good to keep Kaep on the bench.

Steve Young had more talent around him then Joe Montana and yet he only has one superbowl victory. Kaep passing against baltimore and the OL good run blocking gave then a chance to win, the pistol is just a part of the play book.

Um, what? The pistol is here to stay. If you're talking about the read option then I agree. But Kaep doesn't need the read option to be successful. He is the real deal, legitimate franchise QB that we've been waiting for since Steve Young.

Speaking of a deep threat...that's what we really need. Moss was supposed to be it, but had clearly lost a step. We need to bring in a serious deep threat to put across from Crabs.