Week 5 2015: Thoughts after rewatching the game...

Originally posted by 9ersLiferInChicago:
Great analysis. I'm doing my best to find some positive about this season but I can't. I just can't. I do admit that I had high expectations, and those expectations have been reduced by reality.

4) Bowman
This is an issue that really bother me. We are witnessing a near complete exposure of Baalke's draft skills and wisdom. Forget whole draft class wasted, countless draftees not panning out, or drafting too many injured players. During the run-up to the draft I was screaming that we needed to draft at the ILB position, especially after the Boreland retirement (http://www.49erswebzone.com/forum/nfl-draft/181894-9ersliferinchciagomock-draft-20/search=Draft,9ersLiferInChicago) and that it would foolish for us to rely on Bowman to return to pre-injury form considering the severity of his injury. I predicted teams would test and exploit Bowman, in particular in coverage. The Giants and Cardinals games were the clearest examples of this. Why we didn't address this position ANYWHERE in the draft baffles me, and a fateful decision that will continuously revisit this team all season.This Ballke decision will revisit this team all season time and time again. I don't think Bowman will never be back to who he was, not even 80%. In any event, I saw this coming. I'm not blaming Bowman, but I knew that he'd be a liability when/if teams saw that how he moves. Way to go Trent.

7) Mangini
Eric Mangini is perhaps the worst coach to coach to the talents of personnel. He has a conceptually brilliant system and philosophy that he's intent on forcing on a defensive roster no matter what their talents are. Acker, Brock, Ward, D. Johnson, and even Reaser are all better at press-man (see the INT). But Mangini just would not stay with man coverage because zone, in particular 2-deeep zone, is the base of his complicated philosophy. We have a defensive personnel that are built for press man/man coverage, yet here we are playing a style of zone that exposes everyone. Mangini is what he is, which is why he wasn't in the league for a few years prior to JH, and why the team had to basically "settle" for him for our inability to land/retain better options. Though his scheme is conceptually brilliant the problem is that it's just too conceptual. Too many pre-snap moving parts, not too "fault tolerant", and too often causes players to get stuck in their own heads. I agree that it's a combination of talent and scheme too complicated. But if I had to pick the poison I'd pick the former over the latter. You can coach around talent. A scheme that's too complicated for the the talent will simply kill you no matter how much you practice it. And that cannot be blamed on the players. A brilliant scheme is at once made into a dumb scheme if it cannot be taught.

Yep - and the funny thing is, that was what the "word on the street" was about Mangini. Too smart for his own good - and alienated people. So the 9ers had to know it was a big risk.

Originally posted by HearstFan:

Originally posted by 9ersLiferInChicago:
Great analysis. I'm doing my best to find some positive about this season but I can't. I just can't. I do admit that I had high expectations, and those expectations have been reduced by reality.

4) Bowman
This is an issue that really bother me. We are witnessing a near complete exposure of Baalke's draft skills and wisdom. Forget whole draft class wasted, countless draftees not panning out, or drafting too many injured players. During the run-up to the draft I was screaming that we needed to draft at the ILB position, especially after the Boreland retirement (http://www.49erswebzone.com/forum/nfl-draft/181894-9ersliferinchciagomock-draft-20/search=Draft,9ersLiferInChicago) and that it would foolish for us to rely on Bowman to return to pre-injury form considering the severity of his injury. I predicted teams would test and exploit Bowman, in particular in coverage. The Giants and Cardinals games were the clearest examples of this. Why we didn't address this position ANYWHERE in the draft baffles me, and a fateful decision that will continuously revisit this team all season.This Ballke decision will revisit this team all season time and time again. I don't think Bowman will never be back to who he was, not even 80%. In any event, I saw this coming. I'm not blaming Bowman, but I knew that he'd be a liability when/if teams saw that how he moves. Way to go Trent.

7) Mangini
Eric Mangini is perhaps the worst coach to coach to the talents of personnel. He has a conceptually brilliant system and philosophy that he's intent on forcing on a defensive roster no matter what their talents are. Acker, Brock, Ward, D. Johnson, and even Reaser are all better at press-man (see the INT). But Mangini just would not stay with man coverage because zone, in particular 2-deeep zone, is the base of his complicated philosophy. We have a defensive personnel that are built for press man/man coverage, yet here we are playing a style of zone that exposes everyone. Mangini is what he is, which is why he wasn't in the league for a few years prior to JH, and why the team had to basically "settle" for him for our inability to land/retain better options. Though his scheme is conceptually brilliant the problem is that it's just too conceptual. Too many pre-snap moving parts, not too "fault tolerant", and too often causes players to get stuck in their own heads. I agree that it's a combination of talent and scheme too complicated. But if I had to pick the poison I'd pick the former over the latter. You can coach around talent. A scheme that's too complicated for the the talent will simply kill you no matter how much you practice it. And that cannot be blamed on the players. A brilliant scheme is at once made into a dumb scheme if it cannot be taught.

Yep - and the funny thing is, that was what the "word on the street" was about Mangini. Too smart for his own good - and alienated people. So the 9ers had to know it was a big risk.

By the way, that D staff is loaded with former DC's. It might not be long before Mangini is shown the door and someone with a more stable scheme is in charge. Tomsula seems clearly displeased with the D results and been more frank in interviews about the problems there.

GOOD:
Hyde - still manages to produce behind an awful line.
Celek - Our best TE currently
Lynch - possibly our only really good defensive player on the team
Boldin - 100% the heart of this team. If he gets injured i am not sure we cross mid field rest of the season.

BAD:
2ndary - Got lit up again, and couldnt make a simple INT on that last drive that was a gift from Manning.
T. Smith - As it was said above, expensive decoy as we cannot get him the ball deep.
Defense as a whole - too many problems to list
Reggie the "bust" Bush - guy is a band aid.

We need to get Ellington the ball quickly MUCH more.