Game 1 Assessment:

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by RishikeshA:
Thanks NCommand, Miller is the 2013 version of Rathman, watch him become more involved in the passing game.

He is just awesome...so unnoticed. I love how he chip blocks in pass protection and then continues on his route to block in the run or pass game in the open field. This dude is a stud. People, take a minute and just watch him...those passes CK are making esp. out of the pocket on the edges? That little "chip" buys just enough time for CK to set his feet and pass. If he doesn't make these chips, CK is sacked. He has been trained well.

I think most of the time, the LB spying Kap is usually the guy that would be covering the Fullback when playing any other team. This should allow Miller to help in pass protection, then leak out for an easy 7 yard catch, but only after Kap scans downfield for a big play .

Originally posted by JTsBiggestFan:

Originally posted by GhostofFredDean74:
Very true, but Rodgers will always get his passing yards so you can pretty much bake in ~300 for the game. I just don't know if there's a good way to stop AR, just like teams are finding out that there's really no good way to stop Kap. You have to hope you can win the turnover battle and make some key defensive stops here and there.

Overall though, great write up!

I think the only team that can really flummox Rodgers are the Bears, and maybe the Vikings at home due to being in the division.

Yes and yes!
Stole the words tight out of my mouth.

Good stuff NC. As always.

Originally posted by oldninerdude:
Good stuff NC. As always.

Damn good to see OND back!

"namdi. Did great in press coverage and came through when it mattered most!"

What game were you watching?

Originally posted by thl408:
Nnamdi was in a bit of a conundrum yesterday. If he played tight press coverage, Rodgers went to the back shoulder throw. Then when Nnamdi played off, Rodgers would go with the quick hitter. Good news is not every QB and WR has the ability to hit those back shoulder throws. Rodgers even missed on a couple yesterday.

Only issue I have regarding his coverage (defensive play call) is on the TD pass where Nnamdi played too far off and allowed an uncontested TD. Wrong time to play that far off.

thankfully its not every week we play against the best quarterback in the nfl

Originally posted by kronik:
"namdi. Did great in press coverage and came through when it mattered most!"

What game were you watching?

LOL. I covered him in the "The Bad" section too re: missed tackles, poor angles, maybe even the easy TD (sounds like he was supposed to have a S inside while he had outside containment). When he was in press he did well. When Fangio had him a mile off, he didn't. Rodgers made an incredible throw-catch on him that was undefendable. But at the end of the game when we needed a stop on 3rd down, he knocked down the pass. So to me, this was an average game against a great QB and good WR group and Fangio, literally, hung him out to dry quite a few times (he and Cox and Rogers and Brown, etc.). If we keep him in press and play to his strengths, he should be pretty solid for us esp. if he gets S help.

Originally posted by xtm059:
thankfully its not every week we play against the best quarterback in the nfl

This. He's on our team

Originally posted by SofaKing:

Originally posted by xtm059:
thankfully its not every week we play against the best quarterback in the nfl

This. He's on our team

Well played.

Here are a couple of my thoughts after watching the game:

- Aldon Smith had some pretty egregious holding non-calls against him by the rookie LT from Green Bay.

- Kaep just missed connecting on home run TDs with Kyle Williams twice... I know people have touched on this already, but wow -- this offense is really explosive. And it's obviously not Kyle Williams -- it's because of Kaep.

NC--great job! Enjoyed the read and look forward to an every week read...but no pressure!

Originally posted by GhostofFredDean74:
The biggest takeaway from this game is that Harbaugh has built a team that can beat its opponents in so many different ways which is exactly the type of team Walsh built in the 80's. If you took away the run game, they would beat you through the air...if you shut Montana down, they would beat you on the ground with Craig. We could blow you out 35-7 or beat you in a close defensive struggle 14-10, and even more importantly, we could come back to win late in the game because of our balls-of-steel QB. And when you tried to come back against us late in the game, our defense rose to the occasion more often than not to shut you down. We had young studs everywhere, a few budding superstars and just enough crusty veterans to keep everyone in check.

Call me crazy, this particular team has a lot of those characteristics

Have been thinking this as well and wonder if it is somewhat a double edge sword. So many choices that it's easy to criticize anything that doesn't work. The difference is that Walsh was a brilliant game planner/play caller, while Harbaugh/Roman are merely very good and improving (I hope!). With all these weapons the opposing team have to be game planning against the coaches more than the players...patterns, tendencies, etc.

Originally posted by dtg_9er:
NC--great job! Enjoyed the read and look forward to an every week read...but no pressure!

Have been thinking this as well and wonder if it is somewhat a double edge sword. So many choices that it's easy to criticize anything that doesn't work. The difference is that Walsh was a brilliant game planner/play caller, while Harbaugh/Roman are merely very good and improving (I hope!). With all these weapons the opposing team have to be game planning against the coaches more than the players...patterns, tendencies, etc.

Every week? Oh man, that's a lot of pressure! With pleasure, my friend.

This is a very good point. THE single best thing Walsh was best at was film study and recognizing the oppositions weakness and designing game plans to exploit those weaknesses. Period. We now have the personnel to play just about any kind of game and attack from anywhere. But to me, it's on HaRoMan to properly attack weaknesses and stick with it until they adjust. Play the chess match to perfection.

Another point in regards to our secondary.

Ha already been mentioned about Aaron being one of the best QB's in the game. Jordy Nelson is a hell of a receiver. He's way under-rated and I almost never hear is name mentioned on TV.

Our secondary did a pretty good job considering who we played.

Originally posted by LasVegasWally:
Another point in regards to our secondary.

Ha already been mentioned about Aaron being one of the best QB's in the game. Jordy Nelson is a hell of a receiver. He's way under-rated and I almost never hear is name mentioned on TV.

Our secondary did a pretty good job considering who we played.

This is fair...7 points given up per quarter. And it was the first game of the year so our timing, muscle-memory, technique, communication, scheme, etc. should all hopefully improve.

dtg. Nice thot on playcalling while thinking back to the first 3 yrs of Bill Walsh era. I have thot of that, but not all that much, until I saw what kap could do as a pocket passer who can also run. That answered it except: "Bill Walsh was a brilliant playcaller, while Harbaugh/Roman are just very good" Man, dtg, if that doesn't cover it nothing does.

Also, I wrote elsewhere that if we won 1 of 3 of our first games I would be a happy camper. ..Well, we are now playing with house money. If we split the next two games, considering the competition , we will be in extraordinarily good shape. Sunday nite I want to beat the krapt out of those #$%^&*(#$%.(cockroaches). But I am afraid up there we get outcoached. It has happened before. When Kap went up there and couldn't hear, he looked thunderstruck, like "what is going on?" THAT is bad coaching, even tho I love our coach. But he has to do way, way, better with kap in SEA. Silent hand signals, no changing calls, just have a RB or TE bailout for every play, and let them know which one. Finish. Make it simple and if kap looks stunned by the noise again, Coach needs to go to the woodshed and kick himself in the ast.