Week 9 - 2014: Thoughts after rewatching the game...

Gotta admit...bummin' in a big way this AM. Trying to be objective, but this is pretty rough...


1) Kap: Same as most games. Not great. Not terrible. Disjointed performance. Great play on the Boldin TD. Not a ton to say as its difficult to say much in regards to him as he was under pressure all day long.


2) O-Line: Worst performance I've seen from this group (and yes I know it was Martins first start). Just beaten like a drum time and time again from all sides. Everyone had a hand in this. It wasn't just one guy. They couldn't keep Colin upright to save their lives. These guys are better than this...Staley in particular. Just a horrible game.


3) Final sequence: I know peeps are going nuts because of that last sequence and want Romans head more than usual, but to be honest I don't have a huge problem with it especially since I think they actually scored TWICE. On first down I thought Crab broke the plane. After that there was only like 19 seconds left and Niner only had one TO. That dictates a pass in that situation so you can easily stop the clock followed by a run on 3rd down and if you don't get it you call the final TO and kick the field goal. I expected them to do exactly what they did (as in pass-pass-run) due to the time on the clock and the situation. Niners wanted to score a TD or kick the field goal but also wanted to leave no time on the clock for the Rams in the process. It worked too...until that final play was ruled a fumble.

Horrific.


4) Lattimore: Major bummer. Even if he sticks it out and continues...hard to see him ever coming all the way back and being a factor. If he can't get through 2 days of practice, will he ever be? I was really pulling for the kid and was looking forward to seeing him get a shot. Sucks that he may never even get a single carry in the NFL.


5) Lynch: Better and better every week. Aldon and Lynch long term is an exciting prospect as long as Lynch (and Aldon for that matter) keeps his head on straight and works much harder than he did in college.


6) Borland: Yeah, he missed the coverage...but that dude was all over the place. Tackling machine. Moves SOOO much faster than his 40 time would dictate. Gets to max speed I a flash...but ZERO long speed. Great backup player who may start in the future.


7) Crab: I've really taken it easy on him, but he's just off. Has been all year. Its like Kap and Stevie are getting on the same page but Kap and Crab are in different books. Just not communicating like they have in the past. Annoyed that he rolled out of the endzone when he hadn't been touched (tho still not convinced he didn't score anyway) and they are just not connecting on 3rd down.


8) Roman: I've never been on the fire Roman train. I think a lot of that tho is because I remember the coordinators who proceeded him and I've always really looked at the offense as a Harbaugh/Roman thing than just Roman. Even if you fire Roman, the system stays in place...and that's why they hired an offensive minded HC to begin with. I'm not ready to junk the entire thing. Perhaps if Harbaugh stays he brings in another OC to work within his system, but I'm afraid that a new OC means a new HC and now probably an entirely new offensive system...and we're at Ground 0 again. If this season continues as we saw yesterday, I might be on that page...but I'm not there yet.


9) Defense: Amid the doom and gloom, the Niner D deserves a big, fat pat on the back. They are the 2nd ranked D in yards by about a yard and are doing it without 3 of their best defensive players. They are doing that despite being crushed in Denver. They couldn't stop Peyton in Denver, but they've played well enough to win in every other game this year and they have been doing it extremely short handed.


10) NFC West: I'm going back to what I said after week 3. I have to stop watching what the other teams in the West are doing. Philly is having issues and Dallas has lost 2 straight so the Wildcard is looking better, but we still have Seattle and the NFC North to contend with for the Wild Card. I will say this tho...IF the Niners make the Wild Card round then I really hope Arizona wins the West. I respect them, but I would much, much, rather go to Arizona than go to Seattle to win a playoff game. It helps that the Niners have wins over both Dallas and Philly so own the tie-breaker.

In the short term tho...we need to do what the team needs to do. Week to week, game by game. It won't matter worth a damn what the rest of the division or conference is doing if the Niners don't start winning in a hurry. Winning ALOT.

In regards to Crabs, you're blaming him for f**king up that easy TD? That was on Kap. He had to comeback on that pass.

He was also wide open on the third down on the second to last drive. Should have been another big play. Crabs has had a rough season, but yesterday I can't fault him for too much.

This game has to be one of the most deflating games I have seen in the last 4 years from this team. There were other losses to other teams but somehow, with the culmination of everything this season before it, this one feels different. At this point you really have to start wondering about the future of our coaching staff because they have taken a team on the cusp of a Super Bowl to not making the playoffs. Each year has been worse than the last. Further, this years team has more talent than any of the previous Harbaugh teams and yet they are grossly under performing. You can't fire all the players.

QB - It's so hard to evaluate Kaepernick this season because the offensive line has morphed from leagues best to subway turnstiles. There is time, but Kaepernick is starting to look like Romo 2.0, a supremely talented QB who fails to show up when it matters most.

WR - At the beginning of the year I would have thought you are nuts to part ways with Crabtree and keep Stevie Johnson, now I'm not so sure.

DEF - It is remarkable what Fangio has done with the 49ers defense this season. If he's not a head coach somewhere I'll be shocked. If we could get the same consistency on offense as Fangio has created on defense I feel like this team would be in a significantly better position.

Contracts - What are we going to do about Crabtree, Iupati, Lloyd and Brooks?

Sorry you had to rewatch that game...

On Kap: he was under pressure all day but i still thought he played poorly. The mis communications to Crabtree, the passes are all over the place. Underthrown, wide, low. Even some passes to Stevie were wide or high. And on some of those Kap wasn't under pressure.

On Roman I have never thought he needed to go until now. Things were always up and down but the offense seems to be the weak link. I don't know how many more weapons Roman needs to get the offense rolling. They always just seem out of sync. I just think something needs to be done to spark the team or to try and salvage the season.

Being out of sync is what i think is wrong with the whole offense. Not just Crabtree, but VD, Kap the Oline, etc... They talk every week about just needing to execute but as a whole, the are not making the plays, catching the ball or hitting their blocks... It's like a talented basketball team that can't hit a shot... all year.

I want to point out the lack of awareness of our offensive players. It seems like they rarely make that smart heads up play that gets that extra advantage. Situational awareness has been very lacking and Kap has been leading the charge. We all know Vernon's sucks and now Crabtree is getting into that category. Of course, it is difficult when Kap is throwing off-target but it is getting very frustrating altogether.

I think Stevie Johnson and Boldin have been good with situational awareness.

Our coaches also seem to have terrible situational awareness. Look at what Fisher did with our rookie center. If our opponent has an inexperienced player at a position, it seems like we purposely stay away from attacking that spot. We have the tie locked and Kap doesn't protect the ball.

SMH at our coach's and players' situational awareness.

Well at least we dont have to wait till the playoffs for kap to choke away a game he did it in the middle of the year.

31st against the run and you think passing is a good option with 1 TO? This is another "cute" play that fans always talk about (poor situational awareness). You line the biggest fatty or Miller up in the backfield and run it behind him and Iupati/Martin/Boone for that 1 yard. If you can't get it done, THEN you try a naked bootleg run-pass option with CK.

:42 1st and goal from the 2 1/2 yard line? I'm OK taking a shot at the EZ here with a pass to, surprise surprise, Crabtree (eh?!). But have CK and Crabtree EVER executed this play? Ever? Maybe try someone like JOHNSON!? But the pass call on 2nd down and 1 was horrendous IMHO. The design was even worse. They run Miller as the lead blocker with Gore behind him and run both off right T for an all-or-nothing PASS to Gore? They both ran so slowly out of the backfield, I almost thought it was a run call (hand off to Gore or CK-keeper?). In fact, Gore was even "blocking" in the EZ not even looking for the pass (was it a QB-keeper call?). Horrendous! Now we're back to 3rd and goal and everyone in the stadium now knowing we're going to run...QB sneak call after seeing some expected new-Center-QB exchange fails (CK shaky all game long here) earlier in the game? Genius! Fail. Everything is ass-backwards IMHO when it comes to RZ play calling and designs and personnel.

Originally posted by susweel:
Well at least we dont have to wait till the playoffs for kap to choke away a game he did it in the middle of the year.

Great point. I feel way better now.

Do you think this was a classic trap game? What was the difference between this game and the game @Rams? Other than Kilgore being out.

I now believe that the coaching staff is trying to get their act ouf ot SF and would like to head to Michigan.. Im serious, this by far, was the worst game plan I've seen this team played since the Erickson era...

Even Ericskon had a great game plan, but just did not have his type of players..

This season is now over..

Originally posted by Joecool:
I want to point out the lack of awareness of our offensive players. It seems like they rarely make that smart heads up play that gets that extra advantage. Situational awareness has been very lacking and Kap has been leading the charge. We all know Vernon's sucks and now Crabtree is getting into that category. Of course, it is difficult when Kap is throwing off-target but it is getting very frustrating altogether.

I think Stevie Johnson and Boldin have been good with situational awareness.

Our coaches also seem to have terrible situational awareness. Look at what Fisher did with our rookie center. If our opponent has an inexperienced player at a position, it seems like we purposely stay away from attacking that spot. We have the tie locked and Kap doesn't protect the ball.

SMH at our coach's and players' situational awareness.

Sometimes I wonder if Vernon's struggles are due to Kaepernick's passes thrown with no touch on them. He throws bullets that only a handful of receivers are comfortable catching. He hardly puts any air under his deep throws, which look flat. If you look at Peyton Manning or Russell Wilson, most of their crazy completions are thrown on balls with a lot of air, arcing up and coming down gently. That gives their receivers a better chance to make a play on the ball before it lands.

If there was a time to do all the shifts and truly measure up or gain a numbers advantage on the defense, I would do it on goalline and run the ball at least twice.

Originally posted by 9moon:
I now believe that the coaching staff is trying to get their act ouf ot SF and would like to head to Michigan.. Im serious, this by far, was the worst game plan I've seen this team played since the Erickson era...

Even Ericskon had a great game plan, but just did not have his type of players..

This season is now over..

lol.

What game plan would have stopped the oline from getting raped by just four players?

Originally posted by Psinex:

Originally posted by Joecool:
I want to point out the lack of awareness of our offensive players. It seems like they rarely make that smart heads up play that gets that extra advantage. Situational awareness has been very lacking and Kap has been leading the charge. We all know Vernon's sucks and now Crabtree is getting into that category. Of course, it is difficult when Kap is throwing off-target but it is getting very frustrating altogether.

I think Stevie Johnson and Boldin have been good with situational awareness.

Our coaches also seem to have terrible situational awareness. Look at what Fisher did with our rookie center. If our opponent has an inexperienced player at a position, it seems like we purposely stay away from attacking that spot. We have the tie locked and Kap doesn't protect the ball.

SMH at our coach's and players' situational awareness.

Sometimes I wonder if Vernon's struggles are due to Kaepernick's passes thrown with no touch on them. He throws bullets that only a handful of receivers are comfortable catching. He hardly puts any air under his deep throws, which look flat. If you look at Peyton Manning or Russell Wilson, most of their crazy completions are thrown on balls with a lot of air, arcing up and coming down gently. That gives their receivers a better chance to make a play on the ball before it lands.

Kap's rifling every single damn pass is getting to be ridiculous now. Thought he improved that in preseason but it seems like he quickly has lost that from his priority list when things get intense. The possession just before our last possession where he rifled a slant pass with Crabs wide open was uncalled for. He could have floated that in there because Crabs was open by two yards.

Haven't re-watched the game. I'm putting this loss on the Oline, and the offensive playcalling, which many people have mentioned. I hated how the 49ers didn't stay committed to the run game, particularly in the 3rd quarter. I'm looking at the boxscore now of the play by play and I see several good runs from Gore/Hyde. With the Oline struggling so badly to contain the STL pass rush, the run game should have been a point of emphasis coming out of the halftime break. Get the run game going so the playcation means something. Get that STL pass rush to slow down. I thought Kap played fine. Some throws could have been placed better - one that Crabs dropped on a slant and the catch that should have been a TD. Kap could have led Crabs much better than he did.

The drive that resulted in the Andy Lee bad punt was downright comical. Back to back false start penalties at home? Seriously WTF. Lots of blame to go around to anyone not associated with the defense.