Wow, Crabtree's not THAT important...is he?

Coming into the season, I think most Niners fans felt Crabtree's injury was a blow to the offense, but to devolve into the 32nd ranked passing offense is ungodly. This is nothing you don't already know, but this result seems to be the antithesis of good coaching. I mean, coaches should be putting their players in the best possible position to succeed, right? I'm not sure what the most distressing issue is, but here's some to consider:
--Kaepernick is regressing: Seems rather obvious, although the coaching is doing him no favors.
--Offensive line: Great at run blocking, struggles in pass protection, especially blitz pick up
--1 or 2 read routes. The passing offense is the Vernon and Boldin show (reads
1 and 2 on every play). If its not there, it's not happening. Which is distressing because every other team gets more out of their extended WR corps than the Niners do. No Gronk, no problem--a bevy of no names will step up. Packers lose half their WR corp? Here comes Boykin and company! Dallas inserts Williams and that white slot WR with no problem. Even last nights putrid Monday night game had a rookie QB and Tannehill throwing the ball around the yard. (sadly, I actually found myself pining for Mike Glennon. He would actually perform better than Kaep right now, sad to say).
--No creativity on offense: where are the unique run formations from the last 2 years? Where is any creativity in the passing game? What about a straight up, play action pass from under center? But there's none of that. Anyone else tired of seeing Kaep in shotgun performing a playaction motion to NO ONE? I know I am.
--No in game adjustments: this is Jimmy Raye and Jim Hostler-esque. Maybe the issue is people named Jim have trouble with offense! As the saying goes, "If it ain't working, don't fix it."

Is this fixable? God I hope so. But the Niners Re dead last in passing for a reason. Sure there are other reasons than those listed above, but they're the ones I see too often. When they're winning, these issues Rare masked, but when they lose, they are front and center.

the oline has regressed a lot i think. VD being injured a few times doesnt help either but their pass blocking isnt good. Kap is nervous out there and constantly takes sacks instead of throwing the ball away, makes one read and then pulls the trigger. our receivers dont get open and cant catch. thats the worst part i think. i think kap is taking too much blame. people have said alex did more with lesser receivers, but he was a more experienced qb than kap. kap needs to learn how the nfl works and were giving him s**tty receivers to learn with since crabs has been hurt. crabs will make a huge difference when he comes back

That depends on who is your QB, if is Kap then yes. The guy can only lock on to 1 or at most 2 guys.

I have said this before, if you are a secondary receiver with the 49ers, you have next to no future here.

Losing Crabtree was a big deal. The chemistry between him and Kap last year was undeniable, and Crabtree possesses some unique skill. Think of all the plays they made. That's a lot of missing production. Just look at Tom Brady's numbers this year before he got Gronk back. They were the worst of his career.

He's important for a QB who can only do 1 read. Peyton Manning or Tom Brady could run this team just fine though.

Originally posted by Rascal:
That depends on who is your QB, if is Kap then yes. The guy can only lock on to 1 or at most 2 guys.

I have said this before, if you are a secondary receiver with the 49ers, you have next to no future here.

You won't get any passes if you are the secondary receiver. LOL.

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:

Originally posted by Rascal:
That depends on who is your QB, if is Kap then yes. The guy can only lock on to 1 or at most 2 guys.

I have said this before, if you are a secondary receiver with the 49ers, you have next to no future here.

You won't get any passes if you are the secondary receiver. LOL.

Is the ugly truth, isn't it ?

Seriously, if you are a secondary receiver with the 9ers, you are just there for 2 things : 1) blocking and 2) waiting to be cut, period !!!

Once again, I have to bring out the same stats to show just how ridiculous it is :

• Anquan - 67 targets in 9 games
• Moore - 4 targets in 6 games
• Baldwin - 6 targets in 5 games

This is just complete BS !!

He's more important than this stupid thread!!

yes he clearly is important.

/thread

Originally posted by Rascal:
Is the ugly truth, isn't it ?

Seriously, if you are a secondary receiver with the 9ers, you are just there for 2 things : 1) blocking and 2) waiting to be cut, period !!!

Once again, I have to bring out the same stats to show just how ridiculous it is :

• Anquan - 67 targets in 9 games
• Moore - 4 targets in 6 games
• Baldwin - 6 targets in 5 games

This is just complete BS !!

Seems right to me. Moore hardly saw the field. He's not even on the team anymore. Baldwin has been inactive for half the games. If their # of targets were anywhere close to Boldin's, I'd drive down to 49ers HQ and slap someone across the face.

7 targets per game for your #1 WR is not unheard of. In fact, that's a little low. We don't throw the ball much, so I don't expect anyone's # of targets to be high. The problem we have is finding other pass catchers who are worthy of pass targets, and if they're getting open, then Kap needs to get them the ball.

Through 9 games;

Gore - 10 receptions
Hunter - 2 "
McDonald - 6 "

Frank has been effective his whole career coming out of the backfield. Hunter's speed can be utilized on screen passes and McDonald is the biggest target the 49ers have. The numbers suggest it's the coaching most at fault. If the coaching staff can get the ball to these three the offense will become more diverse and productive.

Originally posted by RishikeshA:
Through 9 games;

Gore - 10 receptions
Hunter - 2 "
McDonald - 6 "

Frank has been effective his whole career coming out of the backfield. Hunter's speed can be utilized on screen passes and McDonald is the biggest target the 49ers have. The numbers suggest it's the coaching most at fault. If the coaching staff can get the ball to these three the offense will become more diverse and productive.

Agreed, especially the RBs. Gore is an established pass catcher. This dude used to catch around 60 passes per season.

Hunter and James would be extremely effective running screens from the backfield. That is a skill set that is not being utilized. The short middle is open a lot when I look at the still-images that have been posted. Perfect zone for a check down to the RB.

1st half against Carolina we had 3 easy completions that each went 10 yards, 2 to Gore and 1 to Miller. 2nd half they were nowhere to be found.

Originally posted by SofaKing:
Seems right to me. Moore hardly saw the field. He's not even on the team anymore. Baldwin has been inactive for half the games. If their # of targets were anywhere close to Boldin's, I'd drive down to 49ers HQ and slap someone across the face.

7 targets per game for your #1 WR is not unheard of. In fact, that's a little low. We don't throw the ball much, so I don't expect anyone's # of targets to be high. The problem we have is finding other pass catchers who are worthy of pass targets, and if they're getting open, then Kap needs to get them the ball.

The fact that we haven't thrown the ball makes the disparity even worse.

No, it doesn't sound right. If you don't spread the ball and when your QB only selectively throws to limited targets, it is pis* easy to shut down your passing game.

No team operates like that even when there is a clear No. 1 receiver. Let me give you some examples :

Seahawks

• Tate - 63 targets in 10 games
• Baldwin - 48 targets in 10 games
• Kearse - 19 targets in 10 games
• Rice - 35 targets in 8 games

Panthers

• Smith - 76 targets in 9 games
• Ginn - 36 targets in 9 games
• Lafell - 53 targets in 9 games

Usually the slot guys will get more targets as compared to the outside deep receivers, but even then the split is not as extreme as ours. Besides, what do you mean by "worthy" ? If a receiver is open he is "worthy", otherwise he shouldn't even be on the field. And if your QB doesn't throw the ball to anyone else, no secondary or young receivers will ever be able to improve and increase his contribution. We just don't use our secondary receivers, period !! Is not even about target split, we just flat out don't use them. That is a flaw system and you will never be able to sustain a healthy passing game that way.

Originally posted by RishikeshA:

Through 9 games;

Gore - 10 receptions
Hunter - 2 "
McDonald - 6 "

Frank has been effective his whole career coming out of the backfield. Hunter's speed can be utilized on screen passes and McDonald is the biggest target the 49ers have. The numbers suggest it's the coaching most at fault. If the coaching staff can get the ball to these three the offense will become more diverse and productive.

Wow, 10 receptions for Gore. That's pathetic.

Originally posted by mayo49:

Originally posted by RishikeshA:
Through 9 games;

Gore - 10 receptions
Hunter - 2 "
McDonald - 6 "

Frank has been effective his whole career coming out of the backfield. Hunter's speed can be utilized on screen passes and McDonald is the biggest target the 49ers have. The numbers suggest it's the coaching most at fault. If the coaching staff can get the ball to these three the offense will become more diverse and productive.

Wow, 10 receptions for Gore. That's pathetic.

I can't blame the coaching staff when you literally see Gore open on almost every other play. Kaepernick either ignores his underneath routes or can't see them. Probably a combination of the two. He never seems to take what defenses give him. He's going through the "can't see open receiver, hold onto the ball until I get sacked" stage that he may or may not evolve from. Personally, I saw this from the very beginning and was never fully on board with Kaepernick. I saw him doing the same crap from the first Green Bay game. Ignoring his receivers open underneath. I've never seen Gore so frustrated, waving his arms in the air. Kaepernick is greedy and extremely selective instead of spreading the ball around. When he finally does pass it to someone other than his go-to receiver, it is a sub-standard pass.