Game 1 Assessment:

I'm not sure I agree that Ian Williams held his own. In fact, when Dorsey was in on the same play as Ian, Dorsey was doubled and Ian was manhandled by one OL.

Originally posted by NCommand:
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.

Glad to hear it!

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:
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.

Yes, when I saw the schedule it seemed stacked against the team. First five games are brutal except for the Rams...but even they usually give SF their money's worth. The Colts are upcoming, but that's a home game so should be...not easy, but do-able. GB, Seahawks and Texans...argh!

So I buy your premise...now they need to split and they are in good shape, win them all and it's their year! The rest of the schedule seems to be at least 7-4...if they don't play well for a couple of those weeks.

Originally posted by dtg_9er:

Originally posted by NCommand:
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.

Glad to hear it!

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:
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.

Yes, when I saw the schedule it seemed stacked against the team. First five games are brutal except for the Rams...but even they usually give SF their money's worth. The Colts are upcoming, but that's a home game so should be...not easy, but do-able. GB, Seahawks and Texans...argh!

So I buy your premise...now they need to split and they are in good shape, win them all and it's their year! The rest of the schedule seems to be at least 7-4...if they don't play well for a couple of those weeks.

Yeah, you have to be ealistic with the schedule. In reality, the Hawks won a 10am away game (looked like crap for the most part) BUT they won. And we won a very tough game again, against a playoff team who had since January to prepare for us. Like the last time we played them though, I actually don't think this game will tell you much about either team. One thing about Sunday night football (Monday too) is that these games are so emotionally charged and hyped that one of two outcomes typically occur 1) it is a very close come that comes right down to the wire or 2) it's an absolute blow out after the first Q.

That said, this game can become a nice benchmark to help ID some of our weaknesses and adjust early in the season. It will also help ID some of our strengths as well; things we can build upon. I look forward to both watching it and analyzing it! Go Niners!

Originally posted by NCommand:
Yeah, you have to be ealistic with the schedule. In reality, the Hawks won a 10am away game (looked like crap for the most part) BUT they won. And we won a very tough game again, against a playoff team who had since January to prepare for us. Like the last time we played them though, I actually don't think this game will tell you much about either team. One thing about Sunday night football (Monday too) is that these games are so emotionally charged and hyped that one of two outcomes typically occur 1) it is a very close come that comes right down to the wire or 2) it's an absolute blow out after the first Q.

That said, this game can become a nice benchmark to help ID some of our weaknesses and adjust early in the season. It will also help ID some of our strengths as well; things we can build upon. I look forward to both watching it and analyzing it! Go Niners!

Good points! I'm really more excited about this game than the GB game. It is likely to be more difficult and the niners had better fix some of their mistakes...penalties, time issues, coverage miscues...

But I think they will.

If we send Kap to the Line with 2 plays, we are doomed. He can't change them verbally and was completely lost last yr in SEA. make it simple, 1 play called, and if it busts, bail out to TE or RB. Changing plays up there is just too big a chunk to take a bite of. In SEA, be simple...nothing more. Beat them heads up, not with tricky calls that will get messed up. Old fashioned football in SEA. Hell, throw it 70 times or run the Oregon offense, 90 plays a game. But no changing plays....that is a disaster up there.

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:
If we send Kap to the Line with 2 plays, we are doomed. He can't change them verbally and was completely lost last yr in SEA. make it simple, 1 play called, and if it busts, bail out to TE or RB. Changing plays up there is just too big a chunk to take a bite of. In SEA, be simple...nothing more. Beat them heads up, not with tricky calls that will get messed up. Old fashioned football in SEA. Hell, throw it 70 times or run the Oregon offense, 90 plays a game. But no changing plays....that is a disaster up there.

as usual doc says nothing wrong. if there is ever a game and ever a place you do not want to get cute, this is the time. i know you gotta play four quarters but I just feel the importance of getting off to a good start on both sides of the ball is just so huge. Last year we did not against the vikings in that disgraceful dome and was not ready to play the game vs seattle and we saw what took place. we bill ourselves as the team that likes to impose its will and smash people in the nose so that is what we better do and if we get punched, we better punch back,, with knuckles. The little things we got away with vs green bay like the penalties, inability to get plays called on time, missed tackles in the first half,,, you can not get away with this sunday night

Just let Gore pound the s**t out of them, he usually feast on their Ass . 200 pluse yards couple of times , plan is simple give our big guys the rock let them tire the s**t out of their D .

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:
If we send Kap to the Line with 2 plays, we are doomed. He can't change them verbally and was completely lost last yr in SEA. make it simple, 1 play called, and if it busts, bail out to TE or RB. Changing plays up there is just too big a chunk to take a bite of. In SEA, be simple...nothing more. Beat them heads up, not with tricky calls that will get messed up. Old fashioned football in SEA. Hell, throw it 70 times or run the Oregon offense, 90 plays a game. But no changing plays....that is a disaster up there.

This actually brings up another good point. What about a hurry up? Philly did it (well, all game long basically) in Washington and absolutely silenced the crowd. With all our weapons, CK would have a ton of outlets (Gore, Hunter, McDonald, Miller, etc.) so if they do get some pressure, those options should be available for positive yards. Remember, that is how we beat then the game before last...Alex started dumping it off in the middle of the field to Gore/Walker and they had no answer for it. The key to this game (reference the GB game for how poor we were on 1st downs) will be POSITIVE first down production of 4+ yards. The run ws useless against a front of Raji/Jolly/Pickett so THAT was a game we needed to pass on 1st downs to set up the run (or pas) on 2nd+ downs. If we run into a brick wall again on 1st downs and get no or negative yards, that will feed right into the Seattle pass rusher's hands. Period. So watch first down production. It's the absolute key.

I also wanted to point out a play I really loved against GB...Gore started out in the backfield and usually, he stutter-steps and flares out as an outlet somewhere for CK. This time he "sprinted" out of the Q-formation and CK hit him in stride in the 4Q on the TD drive down into the RZ. This is a play the Vikings used to perfection with Harvin and is an instant mismatch b/c the RB is running forward at full steam and no LB or S has time to turn and cover it. I hope to see more of it! Imagine this play with Hunter or even James...

Just to reiterate:

X-receiver. We need one. Granted, the triple-threat combo with Boldin, VD and McDonald is going to be the best in the league, we badly need someone at the X who is a big, reliable target. Williams is ideal for the slot but he's not meant for the X. Moore was used on one down? The team needs to look ar Baldwin, Patton or try Moore out for a full game and see what we have there. Williams was a very poor blocker on the edge all day and defenders were flooding in the backfield b/c of it. On the 4th down @ the 3-minute mark, Williams was slammed back INTO Boldin (picked him) and it lead to the ad-lib conversion...

Watching NFL replay, Harbaugh confirmed it was supposed to be a quick hitter but b/c Williams was tossed back into Boldin on that play, both CK ad Boldin had to ad lib...luckily it worked. But now going up against a much more physical secondary up in Seattle, do you think we'll move Williams inside to the slot and get bigger, more physical with our personnel at the X?

Harbaugh, "It was designed to be a quick-hitter right into Anquan in the flat but..."

Watching it 2 more times. Vance McDonald really did a nice job blocking in the run game. Packers just rolled the dice and overcommitted to that so it didn't workout as desired.

I really like that kid.

Originally posted by reasonable1:
Watching it 2 more times. Vance McDonald really did a nice job blocking in the run game. Packers just rolled the dice and overcommitted to that so it didn't workout as desired.

I really like that kid.

Which play didn't it work in?

Oh heck yeah, was very impressed with McDonald in every facet. He just brings a nasty attitude to the passing and run-blocking game. I expect a heavy dose of McDonald this game (and lots of passes to the RB's).

Originally posted by NCommand:
Which play didn't it work in?

Oh heck yeah, was very impressed with McDonald in every facet. He just brings a nasty attitude to the passing and run-blocking game. I expect a heavy dose of McDonald this game (and lots of passes to the RB's).

The run game overall, I meant. The Pack really committed themselves to making sure the Niners did not run the ball with any success...so the run plays that were called didn't work out as desired. It happens...especially when a team was gashed for over 500 yards the previous 2 meetings...to be expected. But when Vance was out there...you knew it. Very excited to watch his development over the next 6-8 weeks.

Originally posted by reasonable1:

Originally posted by NCommand:
Which play didn't it work in?

Oh heck yeah, was very impressed with McDonald in every facet. He just brings a nasty attitude to the passing and run-blocking game. I expect a heavy dose of McDonald this game (and lots of passes to the RB's).

The run game overall, I meant. The Pack really committed themselves to making sure the Niners did not run the ball with any success...so the run plays that were called didn't work out as desired. It happens...especially when a team was gashed for over 500 yards the previous 2 meetings...to be expected. But when Vance was out there...you knew it. Very excited to watch his development over the next 6-8 weeks.

Ah gotcha! Agreed, plus with all the beef inside on their DL with Raji/Jolly/Pickett, there just wasn't much room to run. And with our inability to block out at the WR on the edges, it lead to a lot of loss of yards, sacks (CK running out of bounds), etc. esp. on the left side of the line...with Hunter going right behind Boldin and Patton (and Miller leading), we had much more success. Vance is going to be our secret weapon this week.

Originally posted by reasonable1:
Watching it 2 more times. Vance McDonald really did a nice job blocking in the run game. Packers just rolled the dice and overcommitted to that so it didn't workout as desired.

I really like that kid.

Still my favorite draft pick this year! They really might have added enough to offset no #2 receiver...although I'm still hoping Patton can be that guy.

Originally posted by dtg_9er:
Still my favorite draft pick this year! They really might have added enough to offset no #2 receiver...although I'm still hoping Patton can be that guy.

Might be mine as well although the whole draft is looking good...even the guys we lost.

Might as well try him...if Boldin and VD and McDonald (plus Gore/Hunter) stay healthy, there is plenty of time to "try out" several guys at the X (Baldwin, Patton, Moore, etc.) b/c if we can solidify that spot, we KNOW Williams can play the slot to perfection. And oh yeah, Manningham should be back after week 6 as well.