Time to look at the Positives

I know we have the winners and losers thread for each week, but this is a thread focusing on the positives overall for the upcoming regular season.

• These preseason games are obviously far from an indication of how our actual team will play in the regular season. Virtually no game planning what so ever, extremely vanilla offense and defensive calls, and we've been playing a bunch of players early in games that will be cut.

• Frank Gore looked like Frank Gore on the couple carries that he had. Still has the great vision and burst and was powering through tackles.

• Along with Gore, Hyde looks legit. We should have a damn good and dynamic running game with Gore, Hyde, James, and runs by Kap

• Colin Kaepernick is only on the rise as a quarterback. Has looked better to me this preseason than he did last preseason. I believe we will see him improved in going through his progressions and his touch on his throws. The game is naturally slowing down for him.

• Backup offensive linemen are getting valuable experience. Looney has looked better. Our line should only improve with Anthony Davis back and hopefully we can get Boone back on the field.

• We are likely to have 4 1,000 yard receivers on the roster suiting up, all who have been #1 receivers on different teams. Add on to that the most explosive tight end in the game in Vernon Davis and the sky is the limit for our passing offense. Kap has an abundance of weapons. We almost got a glimpse of what we can do on that bomb to Lloyd if teams want to go one on one with someone. You can't double team them all. Also Patton and Ellington have lots of potential as well and can learn a lot from this group of veterans.

• Return game looks like it should be very solid with the extremely explosive Ellington.

• As for defense, lets be real, Jerod Eddie, Dobbs, and Purcell suck ass. They've been playing mostly and have stunk it up. In the regular season we will have the Cowboy, Ray Mac, and hopefully a healthy Ian Williams. Tank Carradine and Quinton Dial look like they will be much better depth than we've had these past couple years. Dial may be able to fill in at nose if needed. Also, I don't believe Glenn Dorsey has been put on IR yet, so hopefully we can get him back at some point.

• We have arguably the best duo of OLBs in the game in Aldon and Brooks. Aldon has not received a suspension yet, so hopefully that's a good sign of a minimal punishment coming. We have solid depth in Lemonier and Skuta. Lynch also has a hell of a lot of talent, but is undisciplined and has a lot to learn.

• At MLB, the best in the game Patrick Willis hasn't even been playing. I think he will likely keep his role from the last few years and do a lot of the coverage responsibilities on backs and tight ends. I say this, because I believe Borland should beat out Wilhoite. However, Borland has struggled in coverage, but he has been looking better and better in the box. He's more similar to Bowman than anyone else we have.

• Truthfully, I think our secondary should be better than it has been the last few years. As long as our pass rush is there, we should hold up. If Culliver regains form, we have very solid corners on the outside in him and Brock. Cox or Ward should be able to hold down the nickel and Cook has looked very solid as well. Dontae Johnson and Acker have some good potential. Reid is a baller and Bethea is one of the better strong safeties in the league, despite having a little bit of a down year least year.

• Barring injuries, we should still have one of the better defenses in the league, which will get much better once a hopefully fully healthy Bowman comes back. Our offense SHOULD be much improved and does have the potential to really put up some points if we're clicking.

• In my opinion we have the best head coach in the league in Jim Harbaugh. He'll figure this s**t out and we'll be just fine with our actual roster, gameplan, and play calling in the regular season.

Originally posted by pwillis52beasty:
I know we have the winners and losers thread for each week, but this is a thread focusing on the positives overall for the upcoming regular season.

• These preseason games are obviously far from an indication of how our actual team will play in the regular season. Virtually no game planning what so ever, extremely vanilla offense and defensive calls, and we've been playing a bunch of players early in games that will be cut.

• Frank Gore looked like Frank Gore on the couple carries that he had. Still has the great vision and burst and was powering through tackles.

• Along with Gore, Hyde looks legit. We should have a damn good and dynamic running game with Gore, Hyde, James, and runs by Kap

• Colin Kaepernick is only on the rise as a quarterback. Has looked better to me this preseason than he did last preseason. I believe we will see him improved in going through his progressions and his touch on his throws. The game is naturally slowing down for him.

• Backup offensive linemen are getting valuable experience. Looney has looked better. Our line should only improve with Anthony Davis back and hopefully we can get Boone back on the field.

• We are likely to have 4 1,000 yard receivers on the roster suiting up, all who have been #1 receivers on different teams. Add on to that the most explosive tight end in the game in Vernon Davis and the sky is the limit for our passing offense. Kap has an abundance of weapons. We almost got a glimpse of what we can do on that bomb to Lloyd if teams want to go one on one with someone. You can't double team them all. Also Patton and Ellington have lots of potential as well and can learn a lot from this group of veterans.

• Return game looks like it should be very solid with the extremely explosive Ellington.

• As for defense, lets be real, Jerod Eddie, Dobbs, and Purcell suck ass. They've been playing mostly and have stunk it up. In the regular season we will have the Cowboy, Ray Mac, and hopefully a healthy Ian Williams. Tank Carradine and Quinton Dial look like they will be much better depth than we've had these past couple years. Dial may be able to fill in at nose if needed. Also, I don't believe Glenn Dorsey has been put on IR yet, so hopefully we can get him back at some point.

• We have arguably the best duo of OLBs in the game in Aldon and Brooks. Aldon has not received a suspension yet, so hopefully that's a good sign of a minimal punishment coming. We have solid depth in Lemonier and Skuta. Lynch also has a hell of a lot of talent, but is undisciplined and has a lot to learn.

• At MLB, the best in the game Patrick Willis hasn't even been playing. I think he will likely keep his role from the last few years and do a lot of the coverage responsibilities on backs and tight ends. I say this, because I believe Borland should beat out Wilhoite. However, Borland has struggled in coverage, but he has been looking better and better in the box. He's more similar to Bowman than anyone else we have.

• Truthfully, I think our secondary should be better than it has been the last few years. As long as our pass rush is there, we should hold up. If Culliver regains form, we have very solid corners on the outside in him and Brock. Cox or Ward should be able to hold down the nickel and Cook has looked very solid as well. Dontae Johnson and Acker have some good potential. Reid is a baller and Bethea is one of the better strong safeties in the league, despite having a little bit of a down year least year.

• Barring injuries, we should still have one of the better defenses in the league, which will get much better once a hopefully fully healthy Bowman comes back. Our offense SHOULD be much improved and does have the potential to really put up some points if we're clicking.

• In my opinion we have the best head coach in the league in Jim Harbaugh. He'll figure this s**t out and we'll be just fine with our actual roster, gameplan, and play calling in the regular season.

Our 1's are good. The 2's and 3's....well thats another issue. The 1's with Kaep outthere were moving the ball. The Gore and Hyde tandem are going to be great this season. Hell even Vance might have some highlights this season. I hope the OL does a better job though. I believe the whole starting unit was in there except for Boone and a new center. Kaep got hit a couple times and it was a little concerning.

Yeah that's what I'm trying to say. Our 1's are fine. But also the argument that I'm trying to make is that our backups on the eventual 53 man roster should be solid as well. Except for the quarterback position, but that's another story. I feel like our reserve team is getting handled so easily because we have a lot of guys in there that are going to get cut anyways.

For the final 53 I think we should have good depth at RB, WR, DE, OLB, and CB. Then our backups should be decent at TE, OL, ILB, and S (because of Ward).


We just need to hope Kap never goes down and that Ian Williams is legit at nose tackle and is healthy all season.

its pre season and i do not worry. even before our backup quarterbacks played a snap we knew if ck went down with a injury we would be in trouble so its nothing i did not know about earlier. Jh says they are not bringing anyone else in, if you believe him, so you just have to hope for improvement and deal with it. ck also shows he needs some more pre season game time. peyton manning lighting up second and third unit guys in the second pre season game of the year does not bother me in the least

Really enjoyed your take.

I also feel the "Vanilla Package" is to see if our non-starters can even handle the bottom-line basics.

If they can't handle the basics they certainly will struggle w/ a real game plan.

IMO, Looney will get better w/more game experience. It's very encouraging that he played better this game. Let's see how he does in the 3rd.

Also, Acker looked solid.

As far as backup QB - Trent will be scouring the waiver wires. And we'll be keeping Gabbert because of the 2Mand JH will do his best to improve him.

Even thought the game sucked, I saw some positives:

- Kaepernick checking down after looking at multiple reads; Kaepernick throwing a rainbow long pass instead of a "frozen rope."

- Bruce Ellington

- Better O-line play

- Lemonier

- Obviously a very quick Frank Gore

- Even though he made a key mistake, Aaron Lynch looked pretty strong

- Dial and Carradine were strong again

bullet points 3 4 and 7 are just huge in my opinion. most of us knew gore would be gore and most of us know once the regular season begins, our team will do what they do. part of me wants to say,"i swear some people act like they want us to suck" but for the sake of harmony among the web zone i will refrain from doing so.

Not worried. The # 1's looked great....except for those 2 missed field goals WTF?

1. Some of the # 1's weren't even on the field in the 1st quarter and still looked fine. When they all were taken out,,,,,things did look bad, BUT,
2. The #2's and #3's looked bad, but keep in mind, when they played, ALL of the #2's and #3's were on the field. If we are down a player, they will be mixed in with #1's

Originally posted by LasVegasWally:
Really enjoyed your take.

I also feel the "Vanilla Package" is to see if our non-starters can even handle the bottom-line basics.

If they can't handle the basics they certainly will struggle w/ a real game plan.

IMO, Looney will get better w/more game experience. It's very encouraging that he played better this game. Let's see how he does in the 3rd.

Also, Acker looked solid.

As far as backup QB - Trent will be scouring the waiver wires. And we'll be keeping Gabbert because of the 2Mand JH will do his best to improve him.

i think we will keep the quarterbacks we have. we knew two months ago that we would be in trouble if ck goes down . that is what life is like in the world of a back up quarterback and most every team in the nfl is in trouble if their main man goes down

Originally posted by JimA49ers:
Not worried. The # 1's looked great....except for those 2 missed field goals WTF?

1. Some of the # 1's weren't even on the field in the 1st quarter and still looked fine. When they all were taken out,,,,,things did look bad, BUT,
2. The #2's and #3's looked bad, but keep in mind, when they played, ALL of the #2's and #3's were on the field. If we are down a player, they will be mixed in with #1's

if we have to depend on number 3 guys in the regular season that means we are in trouble anyway

Eric Branch ‏@Eric_Branch

From the Why-The-Sky-Isn't-Falling Dept.: Combined snaps Sunday for Gore, S. Johnson, Boldin, Crabtree, V. Davis: 27.

Originally posted by Baldie:
Our 1's are good. The 2's and 3's....well thats another issue. The 1's with Kaep outthere were moving the ball. The Gore and Hyde tandem are going to be great this season. Hell even Vance might have some highlights this season. I hope the OL does a better job though. I believe the whole starting unit was in there except for Boone and a new center. Kaep got hit a couple times and it was a little concerning.

Pretty sure Martin was starting for Davis, so the right side of the line were backups.

Thank you for the rainbow after the storm. I was pretty bummed after the game, preseason or not. Even Harbaugh acknowledges there are issues. it's hard to find positives after such a thumping, esp for me. But after this post, I feel a bit better.

When we start off 4-0 people won't even remember preseason

Excellent post! Captures my thoughts to a T.