Originally posted by irief:
We keep hearing that we need a speed guy on the outside to keep defenses honest and to stretch the field. Also this being the reason we lost to the Seahawks, and that this would close the gap between us and them. I disagree with this premise. There are many factors that led to our loss, and I also don't agree that there even was gap between us an them. In fact, i believe the Niners were the better team towards the end of last year. These are a few reasons that people dont consider:
- We had to go on the road and play in one of the coldest games in one of the toughest stadiums in NFL history in Greenbay. Then we had to travel clear across the country and play at the homefield of the hottest team in the NFL in Carolina, who has one of the most physical and punishing teams. This whole series of events all boils down to one really stupid penalty called on A Brooks in the New Orleans game. All of this before we went into play in Seattle's stadium (which I think has such an unfair homefield advantage that I believe it actually impacts the integrity of the game). If that call wasn't made, there's a decent chance that the niners would be hoisting the Lombardi trophy. Winning the superbowl given this road schedule would have been a feet for the ages, and would have been one of the most respected wins in history.
- In spite of all of the adversity from the first point, things were looking good until we lost the run games spear point in Mike Iupati. This affected the life blood of the niners, the run game.
- The defensive front decided to stop playing on that off sides call when Wilson threw it through Rogers hands for a touchdown on fourth down.
- We couldn't properly protect Kap throughout the game, especially after Iupati went down. See what happened when Wilson had all day to run around and hit is receiver for a long bomb. It wasn't necessarily a burner that got open deep.
- Some of Kap's decision make was questionable down the stretch.
- Long kick off return allowed.
These are some of the points to consider before jumping on the speed bandwagon. I have no doubt that the Niners, especially with a healthy Bowman and available A Smith, would take Seattle down. Especially with the addition of Stevie Johnson. Our bigger problem was not the deep passing game, but was not being able to capitalize on the intermediate passes in the middle of the field, where Johnson can definitely help.
There are some great points in this post, a few of which I highlighted. Some of these points are in the video link provided below...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEp4r2q9tTA
My view of games such as the NFC Championship is that often, the victor is the team that makes viewer mistakes and/or capitalizes better when the opportunity arises. Given that criteria, Seattle "deserved" to win because they made fewer mistakes in the fourth quarter and made a key play at a key moment. The bottom line is that the Niners go the SB if Kap floats the ball to Crabtree about 6 inches higher and farther.
My personal belief is that had the Niners gone to Boldin, a proven red zone performer, they would have had a better chance of scoring so the fateful play is not only on Kap but the coaching staff. I agree that the Niners had enough play makers on the field to win that game.
All of this stated, there were many calls which went against SF in that game, any one of which could have shifted momentum back towards the Niners. They are in the video above.
,, but that stuff will not happen two years in a row
