The Inconvenient Truth — We are terrible in most phases of the game

Let's be honest...we have major problems in every phase of the game, and most of it should have been avoided.

DEFENSE:

• Our secondary is terrible. Not just bad, terrible. They were getting TORCHED last year, and we made it to the Superbowl despite giving up massive points, because our new offense caught a lot of teams off-guard and scored enough to overcome our awful defense. Improving the secondary should have been job #1. All we did is get Reid (good start), a discarded Nnamde Ahhellnah, and Craig Dahl. That will NOT get it done. We're left with a bunch of JV scrubs who are totally unable to cover anyone one on one. Opposing teams have wide receivers open all over the field.

• Our linebackers are majorly overrated. They became "pro-bowlers" when our defensive line was playing outstanding, allowing our linebackers to fly around and make big plays. Now that our defensive line is not what it used to be, our linebackers are being exposed, big time. Patrick Willis can't even shed blocks from little running backs. There's no fierceness, no urgency. These guys were never in the same class as Pro-Bowlers like Ray Lewis, Clay Matthews, James Harrison, etc. That's become abundantly clear now.

• Our defensive line is just not what it used to be. Tough time stopping the run. Tough time getting pressure on the corner back. Tough times period.

• Our schemes are often terrible. We telegraph 2-deep zones at the wrong times, never blitz when we should, just awful stuff.

OFFENSE:

• We have a bunch of receivers who should not be in the NFL. Kyle Williams can hardly catch, inexplicably falls down when he does, and is a train wreck receiving kicks. Marlon Moore is Marlon Less. Nobody is sweating Jon Baldwin, Chris Harper and Quinton Patton. This is another area — like the secondary — that should have been taken seriously in the offseason. Signing Boldin was a good start, even though he has been unable to get open the last two games. The return of Vernon Davis and Crabtree will help, but it might be too late. Who is our slot receiver? Who is our deep threat?

• The running game has run into a wall. Gore is great running through traffic, but even he can't run through a wall of unblocked lineman and linebackers. LameMichael James was great in college, but he is not a Pro running back. He runs in circles not forward. Not sure why he is not utilized as a kick returner and situational back who catches out of the backfield where he can operate in the open, like Sproles.

• The play calling and approach on offense is really suspect.

SPECIAL TEAMS:

• Terrible. Maybe the worst in the NFL with punt and kick-off return. Their performance in the Colts game was an embarrassment .

PSYCHE:

• This team believed all the hype about itself. They go into Seattle dismissing the opponent the "Shehawks", and summarily get their tails kicked. They needed the Seahawks asswhooping as a wake-up call, and the Colts drubbing as proof that the Seahawks game was no fluke. We'll now see if this team has the heart and will of a champion. I don't think they do, but I will be glad to surprised. Right now, I see no fire and no pride. It's too bad that guys like Frank Gore and Justin Smith have to play with teammates that fold like lawn chairs. They deserve better, and so do the fans.

We are the Cleveland Indians from Major League 2.

I approve this thread

Clay matthews is better than PW huh. Lol

Even though WR is a glaring weakness i wont blame the team for that. Who knew Crabs would tear his achilles at practice. Crabs, Boldin and Davis would have been a formidable threat. The coaches were happy to role with that and enjoy the return of Manningham down the line. I think they tried.

You are right, we have JV scrubs at WR. Lets give Baldwin and Patton a shot thursday. Ive seen enough of Williams.

The defense hasnt played horrible but our D line is a huge problem. We need bigger bodies up front to eat up blockers period. Our scheme is to allow several small cuts till we bleed to death. The team is gonna have to blitz more and take some risks. Kudos to Whitner though on the opening play. He set a tone with that hit and was wrongfully penalized.

I want to defend what you said about our LB's but something seems off for sure. They certainly arent taking any games by force. But even the great LB's you mentioned are protected by the DL. Thats the nature of the game there. So after typing random thoughts I will go with our DL as the weak link.

Special teams are certainly not special. No field position switches. Even Andy Lee is struggling.

Losing the SB was a golden opportunity lost. An entire seasons effort blown and that has to mess with a team's psyche. I honestly didnt expect us to make it back let alone win it this year. 1st place schedule, bullseye on our back and as mentioned the psyche is just too much to overcome. Right before game 1 I said if this team was able to pull all that off and bring home #6 it would be my favorite 49er champion to date as the road was gonna be tough.

I am surprised to see Kap struggling so much. I expected to see a machine after an offseason of work. Week 1 seemed to showcase that he had the arm to do it. I will acknowledge the coaches are being outcoached(Mcarthy almost had us too) but Kap isnt playing well and this season is in jeopardy.

great first post!

99% of those problems can be fixed by checking the ball down to the 5 yard routes... Move the ball, eat the clock, keep opposing offense off the field, wear down their defense, rest our defense...

Kind of like the Chiefs.

Originally posted by mkmasn:
99% of those problems can be fixed by checking the ball down to the 5 yard routes... Move the ball, eat the clock, keep opposing offense off the field, wear down their defense, rest our defense...

Kind of like the Chiefs.

Kind of like the 2011 49ers...

Originally posted by ECLaloosh:

Originally posted by mkmasn:
99% of those problems can be fixed by checking the ball down to the 5 yard routes... Move the ball, eat the clock, keep opposing offense off the field, wear down their defense, rest our defense...

Kind of like the Chiefs.

Kind of like the 2011 49ers...

They're one and the same.

Originally posted by mkmasn:

Originally posted by ECLaloosh:

Originally posted by mkmasn:
99% of those problems can be fixed by checking the ball down to the 5 yard routes... Move the ball, eat the clock, keep opposing offense off the field, wear down their defense, rest our defense...

Kind of like the Chiefs.

Kind of like the 2011 49ers...

They're one and the same.

WTF is KW #10 doing in the NFL? He cannot separate. I blame Harbaugh & Roman for these very predictable schemes. Memo to Harbaugh: The NFL has caught up to the Read Option Spread Pistil Smith & Wessen whatever you wanna call it. Believe me I'm shocked too that the NFL has caught up with it so quick. This team is in trouble. I never wanna give up on the season, especially going into week 4 but lets get serious, its called a Super Bowl loss hangover. its a LULL the 49ers got get thru. Now how many people appreciate Crabs & VD? and yes this poster is RIGHT!! PW is way overrated, Ive been sayin that for a long time. He doesn't make enough impact plays. Our WRs cannot get open and separate & create space and Kap has just played like dog dung the last 2 weeks. Our Oline looks like Cal Poly Slo awful Oline.

Originally posted by ElephantHaley:

WTF is KW #10 doing in the NFL? He cannot separate. I blame Harbaugh & Roman for these very predictable schemes. Memo to Harbaugh: The NFL has caught up to the Read Option Spread Pistil Smith & Wessen whatever you wanna call it. Believe me I'm shocked too that the NFL has caught up with it so quick. This team is in trouble. I never wanna give up on the season, especially going into week 4 but lets get serious, its called a Super Bowl loss hangover. its a LULL the 49ers got get thru. Now how many people appreciate Crabs & VD? and yes this poster is RIGHT!! PW is way overrated, Ive been sayin that for a long time. He doesn't make enough impact plays. Our WRs cannot get open and separate & create space and Kap has just played like dog dung the last 2 weeks. Our Oline looks like Cal Poly Slo awful Oline.

The nfl caught up to it so quickly because we abandoned the rest of our playbook and gave them so much time to practice and scheme against it. Terrible call on harbaugh and roman especially when we have a qb that can play out of pro style formations as well as he does the college style. I understand if you find something that works use it, but we used it and abused it to the point its become useless and every team we play is going to be ready for it. I wanna see more single back, bunches, split back, i formations, spreads. Pro style offense plain and simple.

Originally posted by KeenaTurner:
Let's be honest...we have major problems in every phase of the game, and most of it should have been avoided.

DEFENSE:

• Our secondary is terrible. Not just bad, terrible. They were getting TORCHED last year, and we made it to the Superbowl despite giving up massive points, because our new offense caught a lot of teams off-guard and scored enough to overcome our awful defense. Improving the secondary should have been job #1. All we did is get Reid (good start), a discarded Nnamde Ahhellnah, and Craig Dahl. That will NOT get it done. We're left with a bunch of JV scrubs who are totally unable to cover anyone one on one. Opposing teams have wide receivers open all over the field.

• Our linebackers are majorly overrated. They became "pro-bowlers" when our defensive line was playing outstanding, allowing our linebackers to fly around and make big plays. Now that our defensive line is not what it used to be, our linebackers are being exposed, big time. Patrick Willis can't even shed blocks from little running backs. There's no fierceness, no urgency. These guys were never in the same class as Pro-Bowlers like Ray Lewis, Clay Matthews, James Harrison, etc. That's become abundantly clear now.

• Our defensive line is just not what it used to be. Tough time stopping the run. Tough time getting pressure on the corner back. Tough times period.

• Our schemes are often terrible. We telegraph 2-deep zones at the wrong times, never blitz when we should, just awful stuff.

OFFENSE:

• We have a bunch of receivers who should not be in the NFL. Kyle Williams can hardly catch, inexplicably falls down when he does, and is a train wreck receiving kicks. Marlon Moore is Marlon Less. Nobody is sweating Jon Baldwin, Chris Harper and Quinton Patton. This is another area — like the secondary — that should have been taken seriously in the offseason. Signing Boldin was a good start, even though he has been unable to get open the last two games. The return of Vernon Davis and Crabtree will help, but it might be too late. Who is our slot receiver? Who is our deep threat?

• The running game has run into a wall. Gore is great running through traffic, but even he can't run through a wall of unblocked lineman and linebackers. LameMichael James was great in college, but he is not a Pro running back. He runs in circles not forward. Not sure why he is not utilized as a kick returner and situational back who catches out of the backfield where he can operate in the open, like Sproles.

• The play calling and approach on offense is really suspect.

SPECIAL TEAMS:

• Terrible. Maybe the worst in the NFL with punt and kick-off return. Their performance in the Colts game was an embarrassment .

PSYCHE:

• This team believed all the hype about itself. They go into Seattle dismissing the opponent the "Shehawks", and summarily get their tails kicked. They needed the Seahawks asswhooping as a wake-up call, and the Colts drubbing as proof that the Seahawks game was no fluke. We'll now see if this team has the heart and will of a champion. I don't think they do, but I will be glad to surprised. Right now, I see no fire and no pride. It's too bad that guys like Frank Gore and Justin Smith have to play with teammates that fold like lawn chairs. They deserve better, and so do the fans.

Not ONE mention of injuries. Not ONE.

Originally posted by mkmasn:

Originally posted by ECLaloosh:

Originally posted by mkmasn:
99% of those problems can be fixed by checking the ball down to the 5 yard routes... Move the ball, eat the clock, keep opposing offense off the field, wear down their defense, rest our defense...

Kind of like the Chiefs.

Kind of like the 2011 49ers...

They're one and the same.

Not really. The Chiefs offense relies on the passing game (Smith is inching closer to 300 yd/game), while the 2011 49ers offense relied on the running game.

Originally posted by ECLaloosh:

Originally posted by mkmasn:
99% of those problems can be fixed by checking the ball down to the 5 yard routes... Move the ball, eat the clock, keep opposing offense off the field, wear down their defense, rest our defense...

Kind of like the Chiefs.

Kind of like the 2011 49ers...

So you guys want the 2011 49ers offense back... then we can make more threads about how our QB never takes shots downfield and our offense is what is going to hold back our team from making a Super Bowl run? Then we'll have "Is Kaepernick holding our team back?" and "Lol Captain Checkdown strikes again" discussions. Wonderful