Week 7 - 2014: Thoughts after rewatching the game...

Ya know, sometimes it really sucks to be right. Sigh.


1) Kap: Had himself a decent game, particularly in the first half. Had some costly drops (more on that later), but also some great catches. One thing I've noticed in particular when he throws to Lloyd...I kinda don't think they are completely on the same page yet. I think he overestimates Lloyds speed quite a bit as he seem to over throw him more than any other player.

He again had his WTF throw that he's good for at least once a game and this time it was picked off. He had Ellington wide open for the first down too and the very next play was a TD by Manning...and the route was on.

Some of you will probably say I'm being to easy on him...but if you rewatch the game you'll see that of the problems they had last night, Kaps play was far, far down the list.

There were a few plays from him that I really did like. That drive just before the half was pretty damn impressive...climbing the pocket several times to find open receivers and getting through his progressions to find Stevie in the endzone was a nice play.

He threw 3 TDs BTW...its just too bad one was dropped and another was called back.


2) BAD Mojo: I stated before this game on ANOTHER SITE that I fully expected the 49ers to lose this one. I was called out for that statement there by a Niner fan who then came here and CONTINUED to call me out for it. I really, really wanted to be wrong, but little of what I saw last night surprised me...particularly after they announced Culliver and Ward were out as well. It was like a preseason defense out there. Add to that back to back road games, on a short week, in Denver (in the Mile High Air) against possibly the best ever to play and a team determined to get him an all-time record...really wasn't tough to predict what was gonna happen.

I mean think about this for a second...the best unit BY FAR on the 49ers is LB. That quartet may be one of the best the league has ever seen and is a HUGE reason they are so good on defense. They were missing THREE of the four of them last night. Not only that...the only one left is the WORST of the 4. This is why I fully expected them to lose. I mean seriously....take away Von Miller and Demarcus Ware and how does that Denver D look? Take away Sherman, Thomas, and Chancellor and how does that Seattle D look?

Yes, I'd have LOVED to see them battle through everything stacked against them and make a statement, but lets be real here for a sec...this one was a longshot.

I guess the best way I can explain this...it was just like a perfect storm of bad and it had predictable results.


3) Vernon and Boldin drops: W.T.F. Vernon? Catch. The. Ball. Boldin? OK...you get a pass. You've made so many great catches that its hard to hold you to task on one drop. Still tho...that ONE hurt bad. That was a walk in TD.


4) Stevie Johnson: He's really starting to play well. He just gets open when he needs to. Similar to Boldin in that way...and may be making Crab expendable. He and Kap have that chemistry going now and it looks as if he and Boldin are the guys Kaps really looking for.


5) The Bye: Great timing. Sucks to have this taste in my mouth for 2 weeks...but this is "get healthy" time. Only 2 games (or less) till we get our pass rusher back. He's been sorely missed. Pat will be back. Maybe a Lattimore sighting. Maybe some news on Bowman. Anthony Davis is back as is Brock (tho both had some "first game back" troubles last night). This whole year has been about getting through this first stretch until the horses come back. Unfortunately, we're losing a few more horses along the way (more on that next).


6) Kilgore: That really sucked...but reinforcements on the way. If it WAS going to happen, this might have been the best game for it to have happened. Marcus Martin is just now getting healthy and he'll know for two full weeks that's he's likely starting. Hopefully he can play as well as Kilgore. He'll have to get the cerebral portion down, but the fact that he's been in the classroom now for 7 weeks of the season surely helps. One think I like about him...he's bigger and stronger than Kilgore. Hopefully that power can help in the run game.


7) Hyde: I really don't know how to explain what I'm seeing so this isn't going to make a ton of sense. He just seems to be struggling badly to find a lane to run in. Seems he's always got someone on top of him and he's battling to stay on his feat in the backfield. Obviously I can't put that all on him, but Gore (tho not setting the world on fire) seems to be able to better find a spot to run to. That's vision and patience. I think Hyde will be fine and as I said before a lot of this is the fact that he HAS to dodge defenders in the backfield...but he's either been very unlucky or he's just not finding the open spaces that are there.


8) Lynch: Lynch is really playing well. Seems to be just a hair away from really making an impact. I can't wait to see him develop opposite Aldon.


9) O-Line: Rough night. Anthony Davis was rusty. That fake spin my Ware on Staley was insane. Von Miller is GOOD. Iupati out + Davis rusty + Kilgore injured just equals even more bad mojo.


10) NFC West: This is another reason I'm not too upset right now. Seattle lost again and is NOT the same team right now they were last year. I love that Percy Harvin is gone. Its not that they needed him last year to win it all, but all I've been hearing all offseason was "we won it last year and now we have Percy too". Not so much. Arizona...I know they keep winning, but they are due for a losing streak. This next stretch of games for them is huge....Eagles, Cowboys, Rams, Lions, Seahawks.

Meanwhile, Niners have Rams, Saints, Giants, Redskins, Seahawks after the bye. Records of the teams the Cards play? 21-11 and 4 of those losses are the Rams who are far better than their record. Record of those teams Niners play? 12-20 (and yes...they play those same Rams).

The short version of what I'm saying here is that the Niners have nearly weathered the early storm of injuries, suspension and schedule and are still within striking distance of winning the division. I mean seriously...they've played THREE teams with a single loss all year (Dallas, Philly, and Denver are a combined 16-3). Seattle could also very well make a run but if you told me we'd be 1/2 a game up on Seattle at the bye I'd have taken that and been ecstatic.

LOTS of time left. LOTS of players coming back. LOTS of teams struggling on the Niner schedule. This beating was rough, but the rest of this season might just be Super.

Great analysis as always.

I always believed that if we could be AT WORST a 5-4 team by the time Aldon and everyone else comes back, then we would be right in the mix for a playoff spot and NFC West winner. If we could be 6-3, that would be even better. Just need to get better and take care of business.

Maybe last night's game was a gimme to Denver and we are just scouting for the SB game?

Well said Marvin.

I missed the rest of the game following the 2nd Bronco TD and then the following punt from our offense. I only kept track through some score updates on google.

Good to know it wasn't as bad as it seemed on offense, and that the defense just had it coming to them last night. All I kept seeing was the score increase for Denver with no idea of what was going on!

BTW guys, Rodney Harrison said it in the pregame show:

"You don't beat Peyton Manning with scheme. You beat him by getting to him and jamming his receivers."

February 1, 2015 baby

You always make things so much better. Thanks Marvin.

Nice recap. No pressure on Manning will result in tough game.

Did anyone notice Carrier on the field more than McDonald? I know they went spread formation way more than usual, but I was surprise to see #46 out there so often.

it honestly cant be WTF? with vernon anymore. we all know he has s**tty hands and should expect it going forward. his clutch catches in the playoffs and some of the other great stuff in the past, is just that in the past. call it age, injury, other interests outside football, unhappy with his contract etc. whatever it is this guy is a declining player who i would not give another contract to.

Thanks for the great post as always Marv. I'm with you on everything there.

The Niners essentially trotted out their second string defense last night. That defense was playing against an essentially fully healthy Denver offense with Manning at the helm. That's an extremely tall order to give for any team, so it's really, really hard for me to fault them for that performance. I think they should have played better, but the result was not wholly unexpected.

I, like you, thought Kap actually played a good game. Until the game was blown wide open he looked confident and in control of the offense. The final drive before the half was beautiful. If anyone is pointing the finger at Kap for this game, they need to re-evaluate. He was let down by his receivers numerous times, the run game continues to struggle and the defense couldn't slow down Manning. I'm not saying Kap couldn't have played better, but he was far down the list of problems last night.

I think that we had too many drops... I think that our team was also in the Manning Watch... we didn't have a great game plan, and our first drive should have been the key...

Harbaugh and Roman shoulda came in w/the great game plan on the 1st series alone, and made us set the tone.. we needed to set the tone, w/a long scoring drive on that 1st series..

That really was the key..

Originally posted by kdogg:
Nice recap. No pressure on Manning will result in tough game.

Did anyone notice Carrier on the field more than McDonald? I know they went spread formation way more than usual, but I was surprise to see #46 out there so often.

I didn't notice Carrier on the field more than McDonald but I'm happy to hear that. Carrier has the best hands of the tight ends and runs very well. I prefer him over Vernon right now

Staley looked like complete ass. Crabs and Vernon are really starting to piss me off. Losing Kilgore will hurt, he's been good.

I'm really starting to wonder if playing guys right after they get cleared is wise...none have looked good. Specifically with Vernon, there is a disconnect somewhere. Either the trainers are clearing him and he's still hurt, he's lying and making himself a giant liability, the coaches aren't picking up on his pain/lack of desire/s**t play. This is part of why I dont buy into the Jim's "we love competition-the best guys will" play bs. If somebody can explain to me why SJ isn't ahead of Crabs I would love to know?

Going back a number of years how many players have we drafted that were injured that have fully lived up to expectations? Crabs, no. Tank, no. Latt, no. Who else am I missing from this list? Maybe this redshirt BS needs to stop because we need depth now...

Originally posted by jreff22:
Staley looked like complete ass. Crabs and Vernon are really starting to piss me off. Losing Kilgore will hurt, he's been good.

I'm really starting to wonder if playing guys right after they get cleared is wise...none have looked good. Specifically with Vernon, there is a disconnect somewhere. Either the trainers are clearing him and he's still hurt, he's lying and making himself a giant liability, the coaches aren't picking up on his pain/lack of desire/s**t play. This is part of why I dont buy into the Jim's "we love competition-the best guys will" play bs. If somebody can explain to me why SJ isn't ahead of Crabs I would love to know?

Going back a number of years how many players have we drafted that were injured that have fully lived up to expectations? Crabs, no. Tank, no. Latt, no. Who else am I missing from this list? Maybe this redshirt BS needs to stop because we need depth now...

this sooooooo much. between them you've got a guy in his final yr of his deal and another unhappy with his current deal and neither one of them look like they give a s**t.

Amidst the dumpster fire that was last night, it's appropriate how there's barely a mention of the missing run offense. Same old same old, let me guess I bet they stacked the box.

Originally posted by crabman82:
this sooooooo much. between them you've got a guy in his final yr of his deal and another unhappy with his current deal and neither one of them look like they give a s**t.

Right now they could trade both and I wouldn't be upset.

Originally posted by znk916:
Amidst the dumpster fire that was last night, it's appropriate how there's barely a mention of the missing run offense. Same old same old, let me guess I bet they stacked the box.

Denver's run defense is maybe the best in the league. And our o line didn't show up last night...

Nice re-cap.

But as always on here and on Facebook the blame for this loss is being put squarely on Kap. It is frustrating to listen to people try to talk football when it is apparent t hey no zero about football.