Jaws on ESPN SportsCenter Special

Kap wasn't ripping off runs after the Packer game. They closed that seam and started spying, taking away that read option one.

If we stay in the read option and Pistol for a majority of the time, as was happening later in the year, he'll get figured out. I'm not a fan of that offense. Sprinkle it in to catch the other team off guard and off balance, but get Kap in 3-5-7 step drops, let the receiver run routes, use his arm or bootleg. We got too cute with that s**t last year and it cost us.

Originally posted by DrGonzo00:

Kap wasn't ripping off runs after the Packer game. They closed that seam and started spying, taking away that read option one.

If we stay in the read option and Pistol for a majority of the time, as was happening later in the year, he'll get figured out. I'm not a fan of that offense. Sprinkle it in to catch the other team off guard and off balance, but get Kap in 3-5-7 step drops, let the receiver run routes, use his arm or bootleg. We got too cute with that s**t last year and it cost us.

Just because they were protecting against Keap running on the read Option, doesn't mean it wasn't Working. It Was Opening up running Lanes for Gore and LaMichael Because The DE Wasn't Crashing down.

@jaws Hyperbole much?

Originally posted by DrGonzo00:
Kap wasn't ripping off runs after the Packer game. They closed that seam and started spying, taking away that read option one.

If we stay in the read option and Pistol for a majority of the time, as was happening later in the year, he'll get figured out. I'm not a fan of that offense. Sprinkle it in to catch the other team off guard and off balance, but get Kap in 3-5-7 step drops, let the receiver run routes, use his arm or bootleg. We got too cute with that s**t last year and it cost us.

Sigh. He had 62 yards on 7 carries in the Super Bowl. Did you expect him to go for 181 every time out?

And the nature of the read option is that it's just that: an option. You take what the defense gives you. Stopping it is much easier said than done. When teams jumped outside to contain Kap, we gashed them inside with Gore and James.

Teams have been running spread/read option concepts for a decade at the college level and defenses are no closer to stopping it now than they were then.

And for the billionth time, the pistol is just a formation. You can run whatever kind of offense you want out of it. Chris Ault designed it to better enable him to use the read option and more traditional straight-ahead concepts in the running game.

At the college level...

CK's 2012 top targets after MM's injury: Crabs, VD, DW, Moss, Celek

CK's 2013 potential top targets excluding MM: Crabs, Boldin, VD, McDonald, KW, Patton, Jenkins, Celek

Kap is gonna have allot of new toys along with a full off-season as a starter. It's hard to see this offense slowing down at all.

DrGonzo, just stop.

Originally posted by OregonNiner87:
Jaws is sort of an idiot.

I'd like to see more examples of Kaep working through progressions when the run game falls apart, and putting a little more touch on his passes. Other than that I think Kaep, under Harbaugh, could very well live up to Jaws blind squirrel prediction.

I guess you missed this past NFC Championship.

I don't think the pistol/read option offense is going anywhere, and I don't understand why people act like it's a gimmick offense ala the wildcat. It's a read and react offense with a lot of misdirection, so unlike other gimmick offenses it actually has some substance to it. Notice every team who runs the read option can run the ball well (seahawks-beastmode, 49ers-gore, redskins-morris). My personal opinion is that this offense will actually expand and become more dangerous and usher in a new era of the NFL.

Maybe Colin can.

I misspoke in saying Kap will only last as long as teams don't figure out the pistol/read.

Kaps a legit QB in this league. I meant to say his effectiveness and our success is tied to teams eventually figuring out the offense. He won't fade away or burn out, he's not a flash in the pan. But he and the team can be that much more dangerous with him dropping back from center.

We hardly even ran the read option before the playoffs and Kaep was still lighting teams up.

if he keeps improving at the rate he has been, he'll be the best qb of all time. ALL TIME! won't happen doe. He'll level out this season.

Originally posted by DrGonzo00:
At the college level...

About 95% of the concepts in the NFL originate in the college game. If you're suggesting that NFL coaches are more equipped to scheme against the read option than college coaches, you're wrong.

Stopping it is all about personnel, and it's going to be very difficult for more than a handful of teams to assemble personnel capable of stopping our personnel from executing it.

I'm not really flattered by Jaws' comments -- instead, they come off as blatant hyperbole. I mean, I love Kaep -- I really, really love him. But to say he has the highest potential of any QB in the history of the league is just silly. I mean, like another posted mentioned, you'd have to say the same thing about Wilson, RG3, Newton, etc...

Kaep was superb last year. However, he also had an absurdly talented team around him. Let's just hope he can sustain success through next season, and then start making projections from there.