2013 - Week 3: Thoughts after watching the game...

Originally posted by Marvin49:
LOL.

I guess I should have stated it differently.

Frank wasn't the problem in this game....but I think Hunter needs the ball more. Much more burst in his step. Frank had a good day today on limited carries and should probably have gotten the ball more in the second half.

Sorry...after rereading it sounds differently than I had intended.

No problem Marvin you always do a good job on these. Gore still looks the part he just needs more of the part. Good Job as always

OK...

...so I've had some time to think about it now.

...and I'm leaning more toward there being a serious issue with playcalling. Earthshattering, right? There is a personnel issue as well as I have been saying all along, but two things can be equally true.

What the 49ers are doing right now would work if they still had Crab, Vernon, and Delanie. They don't. Insistance on still trying to be that intermediate to deep pass team with heavy play action doesn't work when those guys out there simply aren't getting open. Again...I'm not breaking new ground here. I guess you could say I'm slowly being converted.

I really like Vance McDonald but he simply is a different type of player than Delanie. McDonald may end up being a better player...who knows...but he will ALWAYS be a DIFFERENT player. Delanie was a THREAT to get down the field even if he couldn't catch the ball. Vernon is always a threat down the field and I think we are really seeing how good Crab is and how much we need to keep him once he's back. It wasn't just the scheme that allowed him to get open last year. He really was that good.

The offense played perfectly into Kaps strengths as a passer last year. The offense as it sits right now does not. Can that change? Yes. Kap will get better. The players out there in pass patterns will improve and they will get some guys back. The question is whether it will be too late by then.

The niners do need to run the ball more. This game could have been won had they done so, but that isn't the only answer here. As we saw vs GB and vs Seattle, the run game can be shut down if a team devotes itself to doing so. The answer to fixing all this is to adjust the thinking in the pass game and stop trying to be the dynamic downfield team we saw in the playoffs last year...at least until we get some horses back.

Of course....run the ball. No question. It all starts with that...but we can't just say "run the ball more" and expect that to resolve all of the teams problems.

Originally posted by Marvin49:
OK...

...so I've had some time to think about it now.

...and I'm leaning more toward there being a serious issue with playcalling. Earthshattering, right? There is a personnel issue as well as I have been saying all along, but two things can be equally true.

What the 49ers are doing right now would work if they still had Crab, Vernon, and Delanie. They don't. Insistance on still trying to be that intermediate to deep pass team with heavy play action doesn't work when those guys out there simply aren't getting open. Again...I'm not breaking new ground here. I guess you could say I'm slowly being converted.

I really like Vance McDonald but he simply is a different type of player than Delanie. McDonald may end up being a better player...who knows...but he will ALWAYS be a DIFFERENT player. Delanie was a THREAT to get down the field even if he couldn't catch the ball. Vernon is always a threat down the field and I think we are really seeing how good Crab is and how much we need to keep him once he's back. It wasn't just the scheme that allowed him to get open last year. He really was that good.

The offense played perfectly into Kaps strengths as a passer last year. The offense as it sits right now does not. Can that change? Yes. Kap will get better. The players out there in pass patterns will improve and they will get some guys back. The question is whether it will be too late by then.

The niners do need to run the ball more. This game could have been won had they done so, but that isn't the only answer here. As we saw vs GB and vs Seattle, the run game can be shut down if a team devotes itself to doing so. The answer to fixing all this is to adjust the thinking in the pass game and stop trying to be the dynamic downfield team we saw in the playoffs last year...at least until we get some horses back.

Of course....run the ball. No question. It all starts with that...but we can't just say "run the ball more" and expect that to resolve all of the teams problems.

I was thinking this week that if I'm Crabtree my price has gone up. Everyone wants their top WR to be a Calvin Johnson freak of nature or to have game breaking speed like DeSean Jackson has, but the truth is what Crabtree lacks in elite speed he makes up for in spades with everything else. You know, Singletary may have been a football moron insofar as gameplanning and scheming goes, but he has a heck of a way of turning immature players with star potential into the players they can be. (See Crabtree, Michael; Davis, Vernon). A guy who could use the Singletary treatment right now is Aldon Smith.

I think they need to stop worrying about trying to call dynamic plays, go with the play calling from last year and let Kap find the dynamic play within that.

Originally posted by Joecool:
I think they need to stop worrying about trying to call dynamic plays, go with the play calling from last year and let Kap find the dynamic play within that.

Yup.

Originally posted by OnTheClock:
I don't expect him to be perfect on every play, but he CAN'T keep bailing after his first two reads are not there. I can't even count how many times he had the two deep routes covered, but a RB in the flat and a TE/WR running a crossing route BOTH WIDE OPEN in the field but he ignored them, scrambling around looking for something deep to become available.

That is NOT good quarterbacking. Your job is to move the team downfield with whatever the defense gives you. He is trying to force things that aren't there and seems incapable of settling for the sure thing.

Ok, I get your point. Valid!

But, didn't most like him, because he pulled the trigger and took chances - unlike Alex? Still he has got only 14 (?) NFL-games under his belt....

Let's face it. Kap has a ton of talent, but there will be growing pains.

Originally posted by Joecool:
I think they need to stop worrying about trying to call dynamic plays, go with the play calling from last year and let Kap find the dynamic play within that.

Pretty much what I'm sayin'.

Originally posted by Toughniner:

Originally posted by OnTheClock:

I don't expect him to be perfect on every play, but he CAN'T keep bailing after his first two reads are not there. I can't even count how many times he had the two deep routes covered, but a RB in the flat and a TE/WR running a crossing route BOTH WIDE OPEN in the field but he ignored them, scrambling around looking for something deep to become available.

That is NOT good quarterbacking. Your job is to move the team downfield with whatever the defense gives you. He is trying to force things that aren't there and seems incapable of settling for the sure thing.

Ok, I get your point. Valid!

But, didn't most like him, because he pulled the trigger and took chances - unlike Alex? Still he has got only 14 (?) NFL-games under his belt....

Let's face it. Kap has a ton of talent, but there will be growing pains.

It bothers me that people keep pointing to the number of games he's played. I just feel like that's at least partly just an excuse and I feel CK would feel the same. This is his 3rd year in the league now. We shouldn't be having games like the ones we've had the past couple of weeks.

Yeah Marvin you are always great but I have a sense your frustration is skewing your insight just a pinch for the first time ever.

It looked to me like Gore is just fine, the problem is:

1. Kaeps head is on pluto right now.
2. The game planning is on pluto right now.
3. They are not adjusting the game planning to the game effectively.
4. We are getting penalties like the Raiders used to.

Need some wake up medicine around the house.

Originally posted by OnTheClock:
It bothers me that people keep pointing to the number of games he's played. I just feel like that's at least partly just an excuse and I feel CK would feel the same. This is his 3rd year in the league now. We shouldn't be having games like the ones we've had the past couple of weeks.

I live in Europe, studied in Oregon (Go Ducks!), grew up with Joe M. played Football for nine years and I am looking forward to the 49ers games way more than soccer games of "my" club. I have got NFL-Gamepass and homegames last till 1:30 / 2 am here. But this sunday, I switched it off at 00:30 because the game was so ugly!!!

Well let's talk draft here. Are there any decent WRs in next years class that will be available in the first ten picks?

all i can say is thank god for the dvr, when your team plays like that its a lots easier watching the non-sense while forwarding through a lot of it than having to put up with it live.

Originally posted by 49erWay:
Yeah Marvin you are always great but I have a sense your frustration is skewing your insight just a pinch for the first time ever.

It looked to me like Gore is just fine, the problem is:

1. Kaeps head is on pluto right now.
2. The game planning is on pluto right now.
3. They are not adjusting the game planning to the game effectively.
4. We are getting penalties like the Raiders used to.

Need some wake up medicine around the house.

Again...read my response. I'm not suggesting Gore is the problem. He played well. Hunter just seems to have a burst that I don't even remember him having BEFORE the injury. He's getting hit in the backfield tho. I'm not suggesting giving Hunter all the carries and make him the new Bell Cow. I'm saying I think Hunter should get more carries and split the job more evenly.

Originally posted by thl408:

Posters have hit on many points that I share, but just wanted to list the three things I see as the main reasons for the team's struggles. Mainly for therapeutic reasons.

1 - WRs cannot get open. Are the coaches allowing the WR/TE to change their route depending on the coverage they read? There are some offenses that give the freedom for WRs to change their routes depending on their read of what the coverage is. This takes a lot of coordination on the WR and QB, but if done right, it beats coverages. It seems that the WRs have one route to run and that can severely limit the ability to change on the fly.

2 - Kap has very little pocket awareness. When Kap senses pressure, he always tucks and scrambles as opposed to a simple sidestep that would allow him to keep his eyes downfield. Instead, he will tuck and run outside the pocket, successfully evading pressure, but severely limiting his options once he's outside the pocket. His WRs already aren't that good, but now, once outside the pocket, he has cut down the field in half further limiting his options. There's always a spy now, so he never has a clear lane to scramble. There's got to be a hot read open somewhere, on every play, due to the assigned LB spy.

3 - Offensive playcalling has been atrocious. So many have hit on this, but I think the biggest blunder is getting away from traditional run sets. Running out of the pistol just doesn't give the RB a downhill start, which favors power blocking and tough inside the tackles running. With an 8 man box, I get that running between the tackles is harder, but I still feel that with the monsters along the Oline, that they can still consistently gain 4 yards. Then use play action off of that.

A big part of what made this offense effective is that it always outnumbered the opposition in plays ran. This would tire the opposing defense and allow for big run gains in the second half of the game. Simplify the run game by leaning heavily on the sheer physical dominance of the Oline.

Agree 100%

Why are our DB's not allowed to play with the same physicality as SEA DB's? We got called for some very iffy calls.

Originally posted by Joecool:

Why are our DB's not allowed to play with the same physicality as SEA DB's? We got called for some very iffy calls.

I really don't know what's going on but holy friggin' crap does it seem like the refs are actually trying to call everything on us that is even close to being a penalty even if it's not.