Shootin' Ourselves In The Foot: Week 1

First off, I believe our team has the makings of a championship caliber team. We have everything in place (minus Bowman and Smith, who will return mid-season) to make another deep run in the playoffs. The only thing that has held us back the past 3 seasons have been plays that I would classify as shooting ourselves in the foot. So, I've been thinking about making a season-long tally of all penalties, turnovers, sacks (taken), missed FG/PAT attempts, missed 2-pt conversion attempts, missed 3rd down opportunities, and missed redzone opportunities.

Sorry about the timing here, it's been a busy week. I will try and keep more up-to-date on this as we go through.

Week 1: @ Dallas

Overview: Win 28-17
Thoroughly dismantled Dallas from the start. Kaep and the offense was excellent in the first half, and was plagued by penalties (some unwarranted) in the second half. Our defense was very opportunistic and played well vs. a quality passing attack. However, they struggled on the ground. Vic Fangio may have called the game to allow Murray to get yardage as long as Romo didn't beat us with his arm. As it stands now, our run defense is my primary concern going forward.

I like that we had 0 turnovers and 0 missed RZ opportunities, and only 1 sack. Some real bone-head penalties and some killer penalties too.

Penalties:
Ahmad Brooks:
1. Illegal Use of the Hands, 5yd Penalty, Automatic First Down
- Comment: Murray gained 8 yards on the play, so there was minimal impact on the play.
2. Illegal Use of the Hands, 5yd Penalty, Automatic First Down
- Comment: Brooks get penalized for the same infraction on back-to-back plays. It was an incomplete pass, so this penalty contributed to Dallas scoring 3 pts.
3. Neutral Zone Infraction, 5 yd Penalty
- Comment: On 2nd and 14, Brooks gives away our defensive advantage and commits his 3rd penalty in the drive, again contributing to Dallas' score. Dallas was then able to convert 2nd and 9 the following play.

Vernon Davis:
1. Holding, 10 yd Penalty
- Comment: Kills a 3rd down rushing pickup by Kaep. Crabtree ends up picking up the first down on the next play, so it was inconsequential.

Joe Staley:
1. Holding, 10 yd Penalty
- Comment: Kills a rush by Kaep to get into FG range.

Nick Moody:
1. Holding, Half the Distance To The Goal
- Comment: During KR coverage, resulted in worse starting field position.

Craig Dahl:
1. Illegal Contact, 5yd Penalty + Automatic 1st Down
- Comment: Killer penalty negating Justin Smith's sack. 3rd and 21 squandered. The penalty was bogus in my opinion, but not needed.

Jimmy Ward:
1. Illegal Contact, 5yd Penalty + Automatic 1st Down
- Comment: Another killer penalty on 3rd and 7. Pass was incomplete meaning it directly resulted in 7 pts by the Cowboys. The penalty was again marginal at best.

Joe Looney:
1. Holding, 10 yd Penalty
- Comment: Kills a 1st down pickup by Gore, but 1st down was picked up by Boldin, so it was inconsequential.

Brandon Lloyd:
1. Offensive Pass Interference, 10 yd Penalty
- Comment: Kills a 32yd completion to VD on 3rd down, and stalls the drive. The penalty was again bogus but not needed.

Total: 10

Turnovers:

Total: 0

Sacks (Attributed):
Mike Iupati:
1. Iupati leaves assignment to help Gore and allows McClain a free lane to Kaep.
- Comment: Kills drive and puts us out of FG range.

Total: 1


Missed FGs/PATs:
1. 37 yd attempt
- Comment: Poor execution by Dawson. This FG didn't have any impact on the game, but it remains a concern going forward.

Total: 1

Missed 2-pt Conversions:

Total: 0

Missed 3rd Down Opportunities:
1. 3rd and 30:
- Comment: Not much you can do here, Crabtree actually had a good pickup, but was still out of FG range.

2. 3rd and 10:
- Comment: Well designed play, Kaep delivers it to Davis on the money, but Davis drops the ball, resulting in a 3 and out and good field position for Dallas.

3. 3rd and 10:
- Comment: Poor execution by Kaep and Lloyd. The pass was low and outside, meaning it wasn't going to be picked off, but had no shot of being complete. Resulted in a punt.

4. 3rd and 17
- Comment: Not much you can do here, Kaep kept it for about 8 yards on a designed keeper but they were out of FG range.

5. 3rd and 6
- Comment: Designed run, in full clock-killing mode at this point. Hyde makes an impressive run out of nothing but fails to pick up the 1st. FG missed on ensuing play.

Total: 5

Missed Red Zone Opportunities:

Total: 0

Finally! Some accountability! This game was incredible in that we tried to lose it but turnovers just completely took the steam out of the Cowboys. Against a better team we don't get those turnovers and penalties cost us stops and points. Messy as hell and further compounded by the s**ttiest officiating will probably see this year. At least I hope. Great idea btw. I hope the coaches provide the players with a similar report. I'm sure position coaches rail them pretty hard especially after a game like this.

To be fair, some of those penalties were BS; like that one penalty on ward on that third down play. Also, the holding on Lloyd where Claiborne grabbed him first and held him.

Originally posted by pdizo916:
To be fair, some of those penalties were BS; like that one penalty on ward on that third down play. Also, the holding on Lloyd where Claiborne grabbed him first and held him.

I agree, as you can see in my comments for each. But unfortunately, it really doesn't matter.

Will there also be a gifts from the opposition. Like Romos unforced or just horrible interceptions when other players are open? Football is defintely more often than not won by the team that executes better by making less mistakes. But they do happen. On both sides.

Also brooks first penalty for hands to the face was bogus.

and the second didnt lead to 3 points it was on 1st and 10. One can argue it didnt really. Matter

Originally posted by pdizo916:
To be fair, some of those penalties were BS; like that one penalty on ward on that third down play. Also, the holding on Lloyd where Claiborne grabbed him first and held him.

I think the thread should be called, "Shooting ourselves and also getting shot in the foot by refs."

Hey, good thread if you keep it updated every week. Would love to see the wrap up at the end of the year. The sacks attributed and missed opportunities are good to look back on when discussing a player overall. Some of this is subjective, but another good category could be bone head coaching; dumb challenges, TOs, or play calls.

Nice thread but don't call him Kaep. He tried correcting that two years ago.

Colin KaepernickVerified account‏@Kaepernick7

PSA: Just for clarity it's Kap not Kaep

If we played a clean game, I wonder how much offense teams would get against us? Now the thing with the refs is another matter altogether. But if we could cut down on the offsides type of penalties, I don't see many teams even getting 17 against us. Remember, the Cowboys were/are explosive.

Is that you Grant Cohn? Just asking.

Originally posted by NinerBuff:

Originally posted by pdizo916:
To be fair, some of those penalties were BS; like that one penalty on ward on that third down play. Also, the holding on Lloyd where Claiborne grabbed him first and held him.

I agree, as you can see in my comments for each. But unfortunately, it really doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter within the game but when we're talking about shooting ourselves in the foot it does. Can't hold a player accountable for getting a BS flag thrown.

Op going to be mad all year...there is no perfect game in football

Nice thread. If I may add, I think there should be context in these instances that resulted in failure of the team. As in, failed red zone conversions or 3rd down conversions, when the score is out of hand (garbage time), don't really need to be mentioned. Or perhaps it should be mentioned that it was during garbage time since different failures have different magnitudes in which it affects the game. Also, if you can add the quarter in which it happened, I can use it to perhaps cut up the play and we can see the point of failure. Thanks for taking the time to put this together.

Thanks.