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

The Colts COULD NOT STOP THE RUN and we refused to stick with the running game.

Looked like they were stuffing the run pretty well the second half.

Originally posted by OnTheClock:
The Colts COULD NOT STOP THE RUN and we refused to stick with the running game.

Why stick with what works, wheres the point in that? Hell, we may have put up 28-35 points by pounding Gore and Hunter all day and worn down their D. Instead, terrible throws, 3 and outs, we get to watch our best LB get hurt because hes on the field so much and we get embarrased at home. Really, what did you want? Run the ball down their throats all day and win?

All the Alex Smith love is ridiculous. Smitty would have gotten destroyed out there yesterday too. Our WR's are terrible and nobody was getting open. Smitty might have played better than Kaep yesterday but lets be honest here. Alex Smith isn't scaring anyone on any Sunday. Yeah he's 3-0 but the Chiefs defense has a lot to do with that. Hali and Houston are arguably the best one two punch at pass rush in the entire league. Smitty can afford to small ball and check down all game because the opposing offenses are getting beat up.

Originally posted by 4t9ers:

Originally posted by Bali-Niner:

I think the saddest thing; is all the A Smith fans/fanatics that can't get off his nuts even though he plays on another team and hasn't taken a snap for the Niners in almost a year. Even though, he only had 1.5 seasons of good football here out of 7 miserable years of play not counting the 1.5. It's enough to make a hardcore Niner fan puke..

I think the saddest thing is all the Kap fans who got blindly excited to get rid of a winning veteran QB mid season and replaced him with a rookie QB who now has to learn on the fly, and rapidly turning this into a rebuilding year for no damn reason. It's enough to make a hardcore niner fan puke..

just stop

Originally posted by reasonable1:

Originally posted by Marvin49:
Two weeks in a row that I can't bring myself to immediately rewatch the game. Writing this one early because its a bit soothing and I'd prefer to move on to Thursdays game as soon as possible.

1) Kap: CAREER regular season statline as a starter - 10 starts, 173 comp, 286 att, 61.77 comp%, 2289 yards, 8.00 YPA, 13 TDs, 7 INTs, 90.79 QB Rating. Two weeks in a row now...same story. Pretty clear now that NFL defenses have found a way to bottle up the 49ers offense. stack against the run, keep Kaep in the pocket as much as possible and play man on all of the 49ers receivers. NOBODY can get separation right now. Kap drops back and there is simply nothing there. Is some of this his fault? Maybe...but its not like we are watching him miss wide open receivers out there.

2) WRs: I really like Anquan Boldin, but it's pretty clear that right now he simply can't get open without help. I had high hopes before the season started that this would not be the case, but there really can't be any denying it right now...the 49ers have serious issues at WR. Most of the time they are running around out there with enemy DB jackets on their back. I thought Seattle had done something most other teams would be unable to do, but that is clearly not the case. The funny thing is that in some ways that makes me feel better and in others makes me feel worse. I feel worse because its a clear problem. Its not a one week thing. Its something the Niners may have trouble with all year. It makes me feel better tho because on some level it tells me that perhaps the divide between the 49ers and Seahawks is not as wide as I thought it was. I know that may sound loony right now...but hear me out. If the 49ers can get Davis, Manningham, and Crabtree back then perhaps this team will be equipped to resolve this issue in the playoffs. Perhaps the issue isn't so much the Seattle secondary (tho clearly the best in the NFL), its more the 49ers WRs being completely unable to get separation against ANYONE. The obvious problem with that tho is that one opf those guys played in Seattle and the other two are a long way off from coming back. The 49ers need to find a way to give Kap open targets in the passing game NOW. If they don't, it will be far too late for the 49ers to do anything in the playoffs because they won't be in them.

3) Defense: Man...these guys can't catch a break. When their offense isn't screwing them by going 3 and out or turning the ball over in their territory, they are committing stupid penalties at the worst times to hurt them further. To add injury to insult, Patrick Willis is hurt. If Patrick is in the game, my guess is that Andrew Luck doesn't score on the Bootleg. Wilhoite was completely lost on the play...but I think the game was all but lost at that point anyway.

4) Gore/Hunter: I think it's time to start looking at a harsh reality. I love Frank and I'm not saying he's done...but I think it's time to start giving Kendall Hunter a larger workload. Hunter just has so much more youth and energy in those legs. Frank is IMO the best RB in 49ers history and Kendall isn't as good as Frank was in his prime, but he just might be at this point in Franks career. I also think this may just be Franks last season in SF. Next year its going to be a battle between Kendall, LaMichael, and Marcus Lattimore. I'd expect a running back by committee approach...and I think that's going to start THIS year. I hate even thinking this...but I think Franks days as the Bell Cow are done.

5) Season Lost?: Of course not. 1-2 is a tough thing to fight back from particularly with so much drama and injuries. This is going to be a tough season. That much is clear. Nothing is going to come easy this year. Seattle has a 2 game lead on the division but lets be real...nobody had any expectations that tey wouldn't beat Carolina or Jacksonville. Its disappointing and there is a long tough road ahead, but that may not be so bad a thing. IF they can rebound from this and go on some sort of winning streak, these early season losses will serve to strengthen their resolve. If they DON'T bounce back...well then they were never who we thought/hoped they were anyway. I think they'll bounce back, but it's gonna be rough. Its going to be a battle every week. I'm ready for the ride. I hope everyone else is as well.

6) Harbaugh/Roman: Man...those guys have got to be frustrated. I know there are people calling for Romans job...RELAX. He's a good, smart, young coach. Defenses have adjusted to his style. That is clear. There was also a HUGE amount of familiarity with his system with the last two opponents. I'm not excusing the performance...just saying I'm confident he'll bounce back. Again....with WRs who can't get open that's a challenge...but I have a feeling Roman will come up with something.

7) O-Line: This one I just can't figure out. Some of the issue is WRs just not getting open and Kap having to hold the ball...but this is now three weeks in a row that they haven't played well. All the talent in the world. They got the run game going early on, but not so much later. Again, some of this is problems at WR, but it's pretty clear the line isn't playing well either.

8) TE: Rough game for those guys as well. McDonald had a pretty impressive block on one of Franks runs, but was largely invisible for most of the game. They needed him to get open with Vernon out and he didn't. If Vernon is out again on Thurs then it makes me wonder if they should activate Harper to see if he can get open in LBs.

9) Willis: That hurts. Big time. It looks like all those injuries we weren't getting the last two years are catching up with us.

10) Aldon: I have been going back and forth on this one since Friday. I wasn't sure if I wanted him to play or not. The more I learn about it though the more it makes sense to me. As I understand it, Aldon told the team he wanted to get through this weekend and then deal with the situation. While the media was busy passing judgment on the 49ers, its clear they already knew Aldon was going into treatment. He was already clearing out his l.ocker when the game was over. He didn't just decide this after the game. This was planned.

It doesn't really make sense to pay a player to sit when you know the guy is already taking steps to straighten out his life and will already be away from the team for an indefinite amount of time. They could not suspend him without pay. Only the league could do that. Why further punish a man who already knows he screwed up and is willing to take steps to make sure it doesn't happen again. How often do you see a guy volunteer to go into rehab DURING a season? The team could have sat him tis week and got him back on Thurs and the media machine woudm have been satiated. Instead they did what they thought was in the best interest of the player.

The 49ers will still likely get grief for this, but I for one applaud them handling the situation the way they have.

Ummmmm yes he did

He missed Hunter in the flat with NO ONE around within 20 yards.

He missed Kyle Williams deep when he hit Boldin on an identical route.

He missed Vance McDonald twice and threw at open receivers feet most of the day.

No way around it brother...he stunk up the state of California today.

Yeah and he missed Kyle Williams when he rolled left and Kyle was wide open past the first down marker next to the sideline. Kyle should have stopped instead of keep running out of bounds so they both f**ked up, but he was wide. Receivers have been playing s**tty, but Kap has also been playing s**tty. When guys do get open, he isn't hitting them and I hate hate hate when he rolls out left or right, when he can easily step up into the pocket where no one is. We need to fix that and Kap needs to work on his pocket awareness, accuracy, and touch. Haven't seen him throw with touch for a while now. Always trying to bullet s**t in on practically every pass.

Originally posted by NinerG94:

All the Alex Smith love is ridiculous. Smitty would have gotten destroyed out there yesterday too. Our WR's are terrible and nobody was getting open. Smitty might have played better than Kaep yesterday but lets be honest here. Alex Smith isn't scaring anyone on any Sunday. Yeah he's 3-0 but the Chiefs defense has a lot to do with that. Hali and Houston are arguably the best one two punch at pass rush in the entire league. Smitty can afford to small ball and check down all game because the opposing offenses are getting beat up.

JUST STOP. We are NOT going to get into a debate about this. We could trash each other left and right with many valid opinions across the board but this is not the kind of talk we need right now. Get this BS out of here and STOP fueling the CK vs. Smith debate.

Originally posted by AmpLee:
What's with the refs calling some ticky tack stuff on us. I don't want to deflect the poor play on our part, but a couple very bad calls today completely benefited the Colts BIG TIME.

The first one was the helmet to helmet called on Whitner. The guy does everything textbook and gets called. If the NFL is serious about stopping helmet to helmet hits, they need to make the calls where they throw a flag reviewable. They cannot keep punishing players that lead with a shoulder against offensive players lowering their head. It sickens me that football has come to this. Anyway, this play gave the Colts ample momentum to march down the field on the opening drive. It left a bad taste in my mouth that stayed throughout the game.

The other call that stuck out was the defensive holding call on third down in the fourth quarter when we were only down by 6 (IIRC). This call took all the air out of our balloon. It was so ridiculous that after the announcers looked at the replay that had Rogers supposedly holding a player, they concluded that it must have been Bowman or Wilhoite holding a guy since they couldn't find the perp on screen. Not too mention the ref couldn't even point out which player it was when announcing the call. For f**ks sake, at least tell us which player you thought had hold so we could try and find it in slo-mo replay. Still, no guarantee we score a TD or make a game out of it, but we cannot overcome the refs jobbing us at home.

And really, were the Colts so goddamned clean they only accrued one penalty? That very well may have been the case, but it just seems that all the chips were stacked in their favor, on our field.

Anyway, sorry for the diatribe. I don't like being that guy who blames the refs. God only knows we have enough issues that led to the loss. But the momentum changing calls sure don't help.

I have to wonder if some of these refs just flat out don't like our team for obvious reasons. They aren't robots, after all.

This is a big concern of mine. We're at HOME right? As in "home field advantage." It's not just the calls but WHEN they occur (and the type of calls)...right out of the gate on us and at the end of the game when Indy was driving to end the game (both leading to 14 total points). I'm completely sure at this juncture the refs hate Jim Harbaugh (or the refs are instructed as such to "lean" one way or another). There is just too much evidence at this point. B/c these aren't your average ticky-tack penalties. These are game-breakers that affect clear momentum and the overall outcome of a game. The Superbowl was the most well-documented as such and there is a clear pattern here now. Last week it was the 40-yard P.I. on Nnamdi. Now, I understand, we're gunned for and we'll have to overcome the odds no matter who is calling the game but at this juncture, there seems to be a clear pattern/culture now. Both Whitner and Nnamdi are well-liked, established veterans and they aren't even getting calls. It's much worse when you watch other games. Something clearly is going on here...
This isn't meant to deter from the "other" stuff but just wanted to point that out here.

Originally posted by RealShaloop:

Lol all the same people freaking out will completely forget these last 2 games once we destroy the Rams.

#bandwagonfans

yes, because it'll be that easy--- the Niners will just walk into St. Louis and run up the score? remember what happened last year? not the sharpest tool in the shed

Originally posted by Ballistic:

Originally posted by RealShaloop:

Lol all the same people freaking out will completely forget these last 2 games once we destroy the Rams.

#bandwagonfans

yes, because it'll be that easy--- the Niners will just walk into St. Louis and run up the score? remember what happened last year? not the sharpest tool in the shed

Exactly. This game TERRIFIES me because the Rams are another team that Kaepernick has had serious problems with. If we win, I think it'll be barely.

Yeah Frank is fine. He still has the acceleration to hit the hole and by far the best vision on the team. His game has never revolved around speed or really running guys over and taking a lot of hits. He has always played real low and found the small creases and just hit the hole north and south and get positive yards. I think he will be able to play quite a bit longer than most running backs because of this. Kind of like Emmit Smith.

Originally posted by OnTheClock:

Originally posted by Ballistic:

Originally posted by RealShaloop:

Lol all the same people freaking out will completely forget these last 2 games once we destroy the Rams.

#bandwagonfans

yes, because it'll be that easy--- the Niners will just walk into St. Louis and run up the score? remember what happened last year? not the sharpest tool in the shed

Exactly. This game TERRIFIES me because the Rams are another team that Kaepernick has had serious problems with. If we win, I think it'll be barely.

Cowboys just smashed the Rams by 25+. Been reading all over this board that the Cowboys are a s**tty, beatable team. Rams should be easy.

anyone who thinks thursday will be a easy win let alone a win is just whistling past the end zone, not only are we struggling but you know what our history is against that team down there.
This team, the quarterback, the coaches look lost.
we have no identity , are we a running team, are we a passing team, thought we run to set up the pass but guess not
much praise has been heaped on our defense but they are missing lots of tackles, they commit to many drive extending penalties. Now i know some want to quibble about if they are good calls but it is what it is, we are one of the most penalized teams in the nfl
you got injuries and distractions like aldon smith.
also all the funny witty sayings from JH are not so funny anymore. lot of things to fix before thursday. it is not good when your team, players and coaches look, act and play like they are lost.

Colts should have been easy. Rams will be a loss for us.

Originally posted by OnTheClock:

Originally posted by NinerG94:
All the Alex Smith love is ridiculous. Smitty would have gotten destroyed out there yesterday too. Our WR's are terrible and nobody was getting open. Smitty might have played better than Kaep yesterday but lets be honest here. Alex Smith isn't scaring anyone on any Sunday. Yeah he's 3-0 but the Chiefs defense has a lot to do with that. Hali and Houston are arguably the best one two punch at pass rush in the entire league. Smitty can afford to small ball and check down all game because the opposing offenses are getting beat up.

JUST STOP. We are NOT going to get into a debate about this. We could trash each other left and right with many valid opinions across the board but this is not the kind of talk we need right now. Get this BS out of here and STOP fueling the CK vs. Smith debate.

Oh, come on. Have a little fun. Alex Smith 3-0, Kaep 1-2. I'd still take Kaep any day, but come on, it's funny.

I think at its core teams are finally starting to understand Kaep's and Roman's tendencies in addition to figure out how to defend the 49ers. Simply put, the 49ers receivers haven't beat the jam yet and teams have adjusted to that. For Kaepernick, he tends to hold the ball looking downfield for too long. In some instances, this is fantastic, but in others it is devastating. Remember that Saints playoff game from a few years back? The 49ers scouted Brees and recognized he looks downfield too much. As such, they covered downfield and left the underneath stuff. Now, of course Brees adjusted, but Kaep hasn't yet.

I'll admit I am not a football guy, I haven't ever played at any level, but it sure feels to me that scheme is at least part of the problem. Teams have adjusted to the 49ers, but we don't appear to have changed anything we're doing. WR's continue to be blanketed, defenders are loading the box, and we keep seeing the same vanilla offense. It might work if we had guys on the outside who could beat their man, but they can't, so some slight alterations are needed. Maybe it's as simple as going against tendency on certain downs, different formations, packages, etc, that don't constitute a major overhaul.