Overall tho...WOW. Total brainfart by Jenkins notwithstanding, that was a great throw to Lloyd. The Crab TD was pretty more for the route than the throw, but still...he stood in and made the throw. He SHOULD have had another TD to McDonald, but Vernon decided to play defense (again...more on that later).
The Boldin TD though. WWWWOOOOOOWWWWW!!! That was pretty. Kap is growing bit by bit, game by game. It may not be happening as fast as we like, but it's happening. He had a really rough night vs the Bears. A lot of that was due to a Rookie DB who is probably going to win rookie of the year. If you take that night out of the equation, Kaps stats for the year are 64.5 comp %, 9 TDs, 1 INT, and a 105.9 rating. As it is with that horrible game thrown in he still has a 97.
How about this stat: Average passing yards per start - 2012: 201, 2013: 199.8, 2014: 242.7. His TD % is the highest of his career. His completion % is the highest of his career.
He's improving.
2) TEs: Its time to sit Vernon down until he's healthy. Derek Carrier at 100% is far better than Vernon at 60% or 70%. BRUTALLY clear Vernon shouldn't have played. Head wasn't in the game, wasn't there physically, and was more of a detriment than a help in many cases. Dropped passes, broken up TD pass, False start, and little effort on first pass by Kap. He just isn't moving all that well. Its OK big guy, get healthy....this ain't last year when we had nothing but you and Boldin. I mean can you believe that Kap is having his best passing season so far and Vernon came into the game with 9 catches? We can win without you Vernon. Get healthy. McDonald? Maddening. He's got some jets, but every time he does something good its like I'm waiting for the other shoe to fall.
3) Penalties: Dude. Ahmad. Its a simple rule. Don't hit the guy in the face...let alone twice in the same play. The much ballyhooed PI that was called on Cook that "turned the game"? Yeah, it was a bad call. No doubt about it. That doesn't explain the 31-3 score afterward that could have been 34 or 37 had then not gone for it on 4th down twice and kicked a field goal. It was a bad call...but come on now.
4) Running Game: I've kinda noticed this trend so pretty much expected to see what I saw yesterday. Teams that have had an issue stopping the run seem to stack like crazy and run blitz in fear of the Niner run game and have largely had success doing so. This has opened up the pass and Kap has played well in those instances. I expected the Niners to pass yesterday because I knew that the Rams would be putting 8 men in the box all night to force Kap to beat them...and that's exactly what happened. As for the runners themselves....Gore was Gore...not as fast or quick as he once was but found a few lanes to squeeze through. Hyde...I'm kinda starting to get concerned. I still think he'll be good mind you so don't get me wrong, but one of the things that has concerned me in recent weeks I'm seeing ALOT. Total lack of patience and because of that a bit of tunnel vision.
Now to be fair, he didn't have a lot of room to run and at times was dodging defenders in the backfield, but there was one run with about 51 seconds left in the 3rd that illustrates my point. He runs full bore right into the back of the O-Lineman even tho he had a hole just a foot or 2 to the left. He seems to do this a lot...just run into his lineman. I dunno if its because he's not seeing it or maybe its just because the game is moving so quickly for him and he's hyper...but he's not seeing the holes sometimes. He needs to slow it down a bit and learn some patience.
5) Gregg Williams: Suck it Gregg. Live by the blitz, die by the blitz. Peeps might be wondering why the hell Jenkins was one on one on Lloyd with no deep safety help with 25 seconds left in the first half. Gregg Williams. That's why. Didn't learn his lesson in the playoffs a few years back apparently. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
6) Cox: Pro Bowler. He cannot be removed from the starting lineup. He's been a player all year.
7) Youngsters: Lynch, Borland, and Johnson all played well. Unfortunately, we may see more of Borland in the next month than we'd like. I hope the young man us up to it.
8) O-Line: I came out of watching the game the first time thinking they didn't play all that well considering the rushing numbers. What I wasn't accounting for really was the blitzes they held back giving Kap time to throw and not get sacked even once. The Rams have one sack all season, but still...the O-Line held up down 2 big pieces in Davis and Iupati. Not a great game to be sure, but better than I though on initial viewing.
9) Defense in general: I have to say I'm pretty damn impressed. Down Aldon, Navorro, Willis, Dorsey and Brock. Just those LBs alone would be like Seattle losing Sherman, Chancellor and Earl Thomas at the same time. Lost Whitner, Rogers, and Brown to Free Agency. All of those losses...and they are the second rated defense in the NFL. Vic Fangio might be the best DC in the NFL right now. He's getting pressure with Brooks, Lynch and Skuta right now. LOL.
10) Denver: Yikes. As I stated in point #9, the defense has played great....but this is Manning and company. I'm hopeful, but not confident. It should be fun though. :D
[ Edited by Marvin49 on Oct 14, 2014 at 10:07 AM ]
