What we learned after Game 1 with Dallas

Originally posted by ayetee:

Originally posted by SofaKing:

Originally posted by defenderDX:
Hit him in the chest, should have caught it. Instead he tried to cradle the catch. it bounced off.


and yes, that HUGE hit could have been avoided and Davis COULD have protected himself if he had caught the ball properly and not just 'floated' in the air to catch it gracefully. Let's get real. You catch it properly, you have a chance to lower your shoulder and absorb the blow.

You know who else almost always cradled the catch on deep passes? Randy Moss. He made quite a few plays catching that way.

I give credit to the safety making a heck of a hit. Criticizing our All-Pro TE for it makes no sense to me.

Being able to criticizing an All-Pro TE shows how much one knows football. It's an ego thing.

Somebody's got a Vernon crush. OOOOOOOOh. Seriously, Vernon is good and fast, BUT, the critiques are valid. He has straight line speed and very few, if any, moves. He drops or bobbles many balls he should catch securely, but is a vastly better receiver than he used to be. He has been known to alligator arm a few passes himself (all you Brandon Lloyd haters). He doesn't play as aggressively as his size and strength would dictate. However, there aren't many tight ends that are more dangerous.

I learned it might as well be 1994, because my hate for Dallas is still very strong

Originally posted by 4evrfan:
Somebody's got a Vernon crush. OOOOOOOOh. Seriously, Vernon is good and fast, BUT, the critiques are valid. He has straight line speed and very few, if any, moves. He drops or bobbles many balls he should catch securely, but is a vastly better receiver than he used to be. He has been known to alligator arm a few passes himself (all you Brandon Lloyd haters). He doesn't play as aggressively as his size and strength would dictate. However, there aren't many tight ends that are more dangerous.

And that's all it really comes down to. Production, and impact on the field. He's a TD machine, and very few have the physical tools to manipulate the defense the way he does. He has a tremendous impact on the game even when he's not targeted in the passing game. His mere presence on the field scares defenses, and that cannot be undervalued.

The criticisms of his pass catching technique are valid, but overstated. I have no problem with him cradling the ball or body catching. It works for him, it's what he's comfortable doing, and statistically he has a very good completion % when the QB throws his way.. The only bad habit that gets him in trouble is jumping in traffic when it's completely unnecessary.

I also strongly disagree with the notion that he doesn't play aggressively. People probably watched his Maryland highlights and assumed he would continue to drag people like dolls in the NFL too. Early in his career he was victimized by savvy NFL defenders who would strip the ball while he tried to barrel through 3 defenders. Now he picks his spots. It's the smart thing to do.

He's also not going to juke people out of their shoes. Just look at this body type... he's extremely muscular and not very quick. He's a straight-line athlete, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's his natural skill set. You can't criticize someone's competitiveness for lacking a trait they are simply not born with. He's an elite athlete in other areas.

You can bet BIG time Chicago will be game planning VD.

Originally posted by LasVegasWally:
You can bet BIG time Chicago will be game planning VD.

I'm predicting a HUGE game for VD. The Bears safeties are awful.

Sofa, Vernon quit carrying guys when he started having the NFL Ds rip the ball out of his hands. Until that happened a couple times VErn DID carry guys. The fumbles stopped after he got more cautious. Fine with me.

Originally posted by SofaKing:

Originally posted by LasVegasWally:

You can bet BIG time Chicago will be game planning VD.

I'm predicting a HUGE game for VD. The Bears safeties are awful.

Hope so - if they double him I'm more than confident that Kap will find open receivers.

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:
Sofa, Vernon quit carrying guys when he started having the NFL Ds rip the ball out of his hands. Until that happened a couple times VErn DID carry guys. The fumbles stopped after he got more cautious. Fine with me.

Exactly. Glad you remember those days too. He plays a lot smarter now.

I'd like to give a game balls to both Looney and J-Mart..

Both had a very very good game.. Both players showed the coaching staff that there's no reason to rush Davis from his injury, and that Looney can actually be a starting OG on the team... to maybe, may be, start thinking that Iupati and Boone may just be expendable afterall.

Originally posted by SofaKing:

Originally posted by LasVegasWally:
You can bet BIG time Chicago will be game planning VD.

I'm predicting a HUGE game for VD. The Bears safeties are awful.

The Cub's defense as a whole is awful. If they thought containing EJ Manual (with Bill's average offense) was a tough task... they're gonna have a real long day with Kap and our revamped offense

Originally posted by FourNine49:

Originally posted by JoseCortez:

What was clear to me was the niners lack of killer instinct. Put the Damn game away. You come out in the second half and go three and out? Please.

Like I said...

The Niners are all about keeping their plays secretive. They showed a lot of new stuff yesterday. They probably have more, but why put it on tape if the game is in the bag?

Harbaugh only cares about winning. He don't care about stats, killer instinct, or anything of that matter. If you want that, go cheer for the Pete Carrol as he does a fake punt in the 4th quarter during garbage time.

Lol

Originally posted by JoseCortez:

Originally posted by FourNine49:

Originally posted by JoseCortez:
What was clear to me was the niners lack of killer instinct. Put the Damn game away. You come out in the second half and go three and out? Please.

Like I said...

The Niners are all about keeping their plays secretive. They showed a lot of new stuff yesterday. They probably have more, but why put it on tape if the game is in the bag?

Harbaugh only cares about winning. He don't care about stats, killer instinct, or anything of that matter. If you want that, go cheer for the Pete Carrol as he does a fake punt in the 4th quarter during garbage time.

Lol