Series 1-7:
1 (LIKED) CK checks off what appears to be a deep shot to Lloyd and hits Crabtree for 4 yards for a 1st down in the middle of the field. Loved that we started out attacking the middle with Mebane out (Gore for 8). (DISLIKED) Obvious run AND pass formations tipped off by personnel choices and the formations alone (MB speaks to this as well). On 3rd and 6, I hated the deep sideline go-routes with 2 WR's in same exact area; I hated Lloyd on Sherman and it was a weak effort IMHO (plenty of time to adjust). Staley getting pwned.
2 (LIKED) Liked the read option run with Gore up the middle for 5. (DISLIKED) On right hash mark, CK's primary read was a deep LEFT sideline bomb to Lloyd who also mistimed his jump (good throw considering the distance that ball had to travel). CK then sacked by the entire DL just under 3 seconds (no chance here).
3 (LIKED) Nothing. (DISLIKED) Staley getting pwned again and this time by our own Dobbs = 3rd and 7 now. Empty backfield so Seattle counters with dropping 8 and rushing only 3. INT to Lloyd. I don't like this call as Lloyd is already 0-2 already and isn't showing a single positive sign esp. against Sherman; CK goes for the primary read anyhow and Osgood is the only other receiver available to that side. Chemistry is off here, accuracy possibly, miscommunication, etc. between CK and Lloyd. Blown coverage by Borland and Cully leads to 7 the other way.
4 (LIKED) Loved the short middle pass to Boldin to set up 3rd and 4. Then CK threads the needle to Johnson in the middle for a 1st down AFTER just throwing an INT (no hesitation). (DISLIKED) Another obvious run formation and now Seattle is adjusting by stacking an 8-man box. Then a great 8 yard run up the middle negated by another eff-up by Staley (holding, basically, an 18 yard loss). Another simplistic run-and-turn route allows Chancellor to knock down a short pass on Boldin and the empty backfield tips off another pass. Run on 3rd and 20 and crowd is starting to, "Booooooo!" Look for CK to start pressing from here.
5 (LIKED) CK pulls a Wilson, escapes pressure and finds Hyde's check-down drag route underneath for 16! (DISLIKED) Seattle is daring us to throw and now stacking the box with 9 on 1st downs = -1 loss. Formation is weak as all 3 WR's lined up to the same side and we're on the inside hash mark shrinking the field even more and Lloyd, once again, gets zero separation again and is now 0-4 in this game plan as the primary target. Staley with another penalty although it's moot as we're punting anyhow. Didn't like the rushed accuracy to Johnson on 3rd and 11 but again, even if completed, penalty on Staley. Punt.
6 (LIKED) Liked the design of the underneath drag route to Crabtree but…(DISLIKED) Crabtree is the wrong personnel here. He's hurt, slow laterally and the pass was a tad behind him. This is a play you call best on 1st down…not 2nd and 12. Why 12? Seattle on first down now has stacked 10 in the box and 1 DB is left out on the field with nobody to cover (comical). Then another miscommunication between CK and Lloyd as the primary route (now, 0-5) almost leads to another Sherman INT. CK is starting to press more and more as even that throw was a bit rushed as well (thinking "pressure is coming").
7 (LIKED) Team finally starts to isolate Simon with Johnson (that's a win every time). (DISLIKED) The problem was we wasted 18 of the final 30 seconds figuring out what we were going to do and only got to the 50 as the clock runs out for halftime. Perfect way to end it as the crowd is booing even louder now!
Overall:
(DISLIKED) So as you can see, overall, I hated the game plan of targeting Lloyd who was absolutely worthless this game. I personally hated the choice because he and Johnson had a collective 9 catches coming into the game the past FOUR games and NONE in the last game. And THAT'S who you put on Sherman and attack? Stupid! You could see there was no chemistry between CK and Lloyd naturally as those passes were all low % passes anyhow and trust/chemistry is critical on low % passes. I didn't like how we overloaded a very small area of the field for CK making it easier to cover us. I didn't like how Seattle was adjusting to our predictable 1st down runs leaving us in constant 2nd and longs (or the fact that we didn't check out of them). I didn't like all the deep sideline bombs esp. when 2 WR's run the same route and are 3 feet apart from each other. The only other player who may have played worse than Lloyd was Staley. I didn't like that both our formations AND personnel packages tipped off exactly what we were going to do (run or pass). It was obvious in rewatching the Hawks CB's that they WERE all over these very simplistic WR routes and even had extra time to square up and keep their eyes in the backfield on CK. CK's accuracy was off this night as well as he started to press more and more as our own crowd boo'd after each stalled drive and he stuck with his primary read (and most were not favorable matchups). Entire line giving up a sack on 3rd down again. More poor time management at the end again. Didn't think to target Simon with Johnson until the very end of the half. Zero shots in the middle of the field beyond 7 yards. Just not a whole lot to like and clearly, we weren't set up to win this one IMHO.
(LIKED) The good was that we tried to hit many more short quick passes this time, CK showed some moxy immediately after his INT threading the needle, called off what appeared to be a deep bomb for a short conversion that lead to a 1st down, scrambled and hit Hyde as an outlet for 16 yards, etc. I liked the game plan to target the middle of the DL for big runs with Mebane out. But like chess, you need to counter when your opponent adjusts...and we didn't in the run game. I liked the formation with CK in the pistol as he handed it off to Gore inside while he ran off tackle. Had we gone back to this play with a CK keeper, we may have had a big hitter there.
[ Edited by NCommand on Dec 3, 2014 at 7:54 AM ]
