Week 7 2015: Thoughts after rewatching the game...

I have the same feeling in my gut after this game as I did after last season's OAK loss - 'this team ain't doing s**t this season'. Except last season it was week 14. It's only week 7. I had been in denial coming into the season, keeping an open mind, giving the new faces in new places the benefit of the doubt. This team does not have the mental fortitude, coaching acumen, or player talent to compete in this division. Got worked by ARI, got worked by SEA, now to see how they stack up against STL.

I'm afraid that as bad as the team has looked against quality competition (teams not named MIN/BAL), the players may start losing focus and it's only going to get worse. It's only week 7, ugh.
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For this game, I thought Geep actually did things like call short routes and ask for Kap to get rid of the ball. Kap and the OL just didn't execute. Boone/Martin/Devey were getting schooled. Kap needs to help by getting rid of the ball faster, but he had indecision and inaccurate throws. Not all his 6 of his sacks were from immediate pressure. Maybe WRs weren't open. I'll check that out when the film comes out and report back.

The defense looked shakey at first, but buckled down with the help of some turnovers. 20 points given up isn't a horrible result considering how much they were on the field. Hated the call to kick a FG while down 17-0 in the 3rd quarter. I know you want to take points when you can, but that was the best drive all night and it was 4th &2. Just go for it, who knows when they'll get back in striking range. Aggressive coaching decisions can trigger an aggressive mindset from the players. But this is a hindsight critique and making it a two possession game (17-3) makes some sense.

Originally posted by JoeBart324:

Originally posted by 951NINER:
Getting old having the same " It's not all Kap's fault" conversations. Someone out there has the answers.

For the most part I believe folks realize Kap needs to step up his play. But after watching last night, how can you put the blame solely on Kap? It was a complete team failure, from coaching all the way down to technique. Top to bottom. Yes, Kap could have played better. But on the other hand, he wasn't working with much last night. The line was getting destroyed and at the same time, receivers weren't getting open.

The OFFENSE had a s**t game. I get tired of saying the same s**t, but guess what, its the same s**t. our wide receivers cant consistently beat man coverage, and our oline cant protect our qb and other then a couple splash plays for vern we have no tight end production (sounds a lot like alst year).

Kap is a rhythm passer, you need to get him into the flow of the game. News flash, a lot of qb's are like this. Yeah he played like s**t, but thats what happened when you get sacked six times, you have no run game, and your receivers cant beat man. When you have every professional analyst at the game saying the same thing something along the lines "nobody is getting open, bnobdy is blocking." Then maybe, just maybe that might be the bigger issue. A new qb isnt going to do s**t here without the pieces around him. This has been a long standing issue with this franchise. Our failures to consistently acquire young offensive talent has spurned this franchise. crabtree didnt turn out to be the guy, aj was a bust, iuptai didn't develop as a pass protector, anhtony davis was awesome for a second and then couldnt stay healthy, vance has been terrible. Lets stop tripping about kap and maybe give him the pieces to perform. man how much better would this offense be with 1) a decent offensive line, 2) some semblance of consistent tight end production, 3) a true number 1 receiver who can beat good man coverage on the regular.

Originally posted by JoeBart324:

Originally posted by 951NINER:
Getting old having the same " It's not all Kap's fault" conversations. Someone out there has the answers.

For the most part I believe folks realize Kap needs to step up his play. But after watching last night, how can you put the blame solely on Kap? It was a complete team failure, from coaching all the way down to technique. Top to bottom. Yes, Kap could have played better. But on the other hand, he wasn't working with much last night. The line was getting destroyed and at the same time, receivers weren't getting open.

I agree that failure is a collective effort from coaches to individual play.
But to play devil's advocate, I'd say that the focus should mainly be on Kaepernick. It's hard for the coaches to create a robust gameplan if Kaep can't be trusted to execute the basics of it. Without a robust gameplan, the coaches can put the other players in more advantageous positions to succeed. Right now, they've had to strip down the playback into a potato gun offense, which still hasn't been mastered.

re-watching marv you are a brave man, I can barely watch that garbage once.

LOL. Hyde's been one of our few bright spots and you continue to criticize him, while giving Kap a pass for last night. This is why I can't stand reading your threads, they drive me nuts. Thankfully I just remember that it's just an opinion and not official.

Well I don't need to rewatch the game to know we need a new Online and a QB that can hit avopen WR. The opening 3rd down pass to Reggie. Then later we are driving and its a simple out to bolden he Sky's over his head. Kap is not a good qb and we should be giving Gabbert a look. And I agree the Oline is so bad on the right side we need to see the young guys in there. There's no way they could be worse.

"Everyone shares a piece of the blame on that one. ALL of them right up to Tomsula."

I was agreeing with you 100%, Marvin, right up until that last line. The blame goes up higher than Tomsula. Who put him there? We have a dysfunctional organization, and the problems start at the top.

Originally posted by thl408:
I have the same feeling in my gut after this game as I did after last season's OAK loss - 'this team ain't doing s**t this season'. Except last season it was week 14. It's only week 7. I had been in denial coming into the season, keeping an open mind, giving the new faces in new places the benefit of the doubt. This team does not have the mental fortitude, coaching acumen, or player talent to compete in this division. Got worked by ARI, got worked by SEA, now to see how they stack up against STL.

I'm afraid that as bad as the team has looked against quality competition (teams not named MIN/BAL), the players may start losing focus and it's only going to get worse. It's only week 7, ugh.
..
For this game, I thought Geep actually did things like call short routes and ask for Kap to get rid of the ball. Kap and the OL just didn't execute. Boone/Martin/Devey were getting schooled. Kap needs to help by getting rid of the ball faster, but he had indecision and inaccurate throws. Not all his 6 of his sacks were from immediate pressure. Maybe WRs weren't open. I'll check that out when the film comes out and report back.

The defense looked shakey at first, but buckled down with the help of some turnovers. 20 points given up isn't a horrible result considering how much they were on the field. Hated the call to kick a FG while down 17-0 in the 3rd quarter. I know you want to take points when you can, but that was the best drive all night and it was 4th &2. Just go for it, who knows when they'll get back in striking range. Aggressive coaching decisions can trigger an aggressive mindset from the players. But this is a hindsight critique and making it a two possession game (17-3) makes some sense.

Good comments thl. The passive mindset has been ongoing, particularly with the decision always call a run on 3rd and long. That's gone on for several games. Therefore, the whole team suffers to protect Kap. On that field goal drive, it appeared that Kap had the 1st down if he'd run, but chose to throw it into the ground. He did that or threw it away before he had to several times. He was giving up on plays many times according to the radio announcers. It's not solely Kap's fault. Of course. That's on everybody from York on down to the waterboy. But the QB is the player with the single most influence on a game. Wilson's OL is not much if any better than ours, but he made plays. He made interceptions to because he took risks, particularly when the Seahawks were ahead. The Niners philosophy seems to be no risk no how.

Originally posted by Stud:
LOL. Hyde's been one of our few bright spots and you continue to criticize him, while giving Kap a pass for last night. This is why I can't stand reading your threads, they drive me nuts. Thankfully I just remember that it's just an opinion and not official.

LOL.

Really simple solution there homie.

This is really an example tho of the myopic views that can sometimes permeate this forum.

I like Hyde. I like him a lot. That doesn't mean tho that I am incapable of seeing his flaws and want to see him do better. This thread is simply my thoughts after watching the game and that's one of them. My fear was that his running style would get him hurt. It did.

Doesn't mean I don't like the guy. If you don't like it, feel free not to read this thread. Free country.

Peace.

Originally posted by Ohio49ersfan:
Well I don't need to rewatch the game to know we need a new Online and a QB that can hit avopen WR. The opening 3rd down pass to Reggie. Then later we are driving and its a simple out to bolden he Sky's over his head. Kap is not a good qb and we should be giving Gabbert a look. And I agree the Oline is so bad on the right side we need to see the young guys in there. There's no way they could be worse.

On that pass to Boldin, the radio announcers said that when the Niners set up for that play, no one was covering Boldin, and that Kap waited until Seattle did cover him before getting the ball snapped. Just another example of Kap being deer in the headlights.

Originally posted by ClassicNiner:
"Everyone shares a piece of the blame on that one. ALL of them right up to Tomsula."

I was agreeing with you 100%, Marvin, right up until that last line. The blame goes up higher than Tomsula. Who put him there? We have a dysfunctional organization, and the problems start at the top.

I don't disagree with that...but my point was THIS game, not the larger scheme.

Spot on Marv. You're saying what I said last night. Kap deserves blame, but a ton of others does as well. I have no clue what the offensive game plan was trying accomplish.

Originally posted by Marvin49:

Ug.


1) Kap: I don't want to over sell this because he had a bad day, but watching the game again really did help quite a bit on this one. Yes, he airmailed a few passes. Yes, he looked afraid to make a mistake. Yes, he didn't see some open receivers.

...but he didn't play as poorly as I thought on first glance. Some of the overthrows may have really been throwaways. One of the early high throws to Bolin had 2 guys downfield and NOBODY even remotely open. The one that had me the angriest last night (pass to Bush from the endzone that landed at Bushs feet) wasn't as bad as I thought as its clear that Kap had to let the ball go long before he wanted to but had a defender bearing down on him while he was standing in the endzone. Bush hadn't cleared his defender yet. It looked like Kap was avoiding both a safety and a turnover by basically throwing the ball into the turf.

Again...I don't want it to appear I'm making the point that Kap is just fine and it was everyone elses fault, but he wasn't as bad as I thought. He did look a lot like the shell-shocked Kap we got against Green Bay though. He's terrified right now to make a big mistake and THAT is making him ineffective. He doesn't trust himself and is still trying to be what people say he's supposed to be on not just being what he is.

He's gotta have the "f*ck it" moment that Alex Smith had late in 2010. The moment where you just stop listening to all the voices telling you what to be and just freakin' PLAY.



2) O-Line: Sweet Jesus. Every bit as bad as I thought. How bad do Thomas and Brown have to suck to not get some play over Devey and Pears? Right side of the line might as well not even be there. Kap struggled as I said, but my god the line is not helping him.

You have a QB who is trying to learn how to pass from the pocket. Ya know what helps in that regard? HAVING A POCKET. How in the hell do you teach a guy to trust the pocket being there if it ain't there. Of COURSE his eyes would start to be on the rush and not downfield. Kap wasn't seeing ghosts. When you are getting hit when you hit the third step of a 3 step drop, you got problems.

A line rebuild is in order. In the offseason I'd expect $$$ spent in Free Agency and picks spent in the draft, but they need to know what they have. They need to let guys like Thomas and Brown play if for no other reason to see what they have.



3) Hyde: Sometimes I hate bein' right. This is one of those cases. Guy can't continue to run like that. He's an injury waiting to happen. I love the heart (and particularly playing hurt the way he did), but you HAVE to protect yourself in the NFL or you are going to have a very short career. Frank lasted as long as he did because he seldom let himself take big shots. Hyde takes them on seemingly every play. The kid is a talent, so don't get me wrong, but I don't think we can count on him making it through an NFL season without getting hurt.



4) Aaron Lynch: At least somebody came to play



5) Broken Coverages: Its really getting old. I think the Niners have DBs who can play, but the amount of confusion that I see in the secondary every single week has to be put on the coaching. I can't remember the last time I saw guys running so wide open on a consistent basis (and I'm speaking about the entire season, not just yesterday).



6) Tomsula: WTF. You are down 3 scores and you are punting on 4th and 3 with 3 minutes left? Why bother even taking the snaps? Just walk into the locker room. So what if you don't convert. YOU ARE ALREADY DOWN 3 SCORES. SMDH.



7) Seattles in trouble: Not Niner related, but I couldn't help but realize that the Wilson got sacked 5 times against a team with little pass rush and was losing by at least 2 scores for most of the game. Niner O-Line might be the worst in the league, but Seattle ain't a whole lot better.



8) Receivers not getting open: I heard Deion say it at halftime when I rewatched it and Phil Simms said it all game, but those guys pretty much confirmed what I was seeing live. There weren't a lot of open guys running around out there. Now I don't want to say Kap NEVER had open guys or that he didn't miss guys or wasn't reluctant to throw to guys that were open...but there weren't a lot of opportunities out there. I don't know if that's personnel or scheme. I have no answers and it appears neither do the coaches.



9) Tarrt: Actually saw him flash a few times there. I think Bethea is history next year and Tarrt will be in the starting lineup. In fact, I don't know the extent of Betheas injury (I was at the game and didn't see report afterward), but perhaps its time to play the youngster THIS year to get him ready for next year.



10) Bottom line on Passing game: So this is what you had last night. Kap rarely had time to do much of anything. On the instances he did, there weren't a lot of open receivers out there. On the rare instances there were, he was reluctant to put the ball on target for fear of turning it over. On the rare instances he was willing, they'd drop the damn ball.

IE, everyone shares a piece of the blame on that one. ALL of them right up to Tomsula.

Agree for the most part but there is no way I can stomach watching that game again. Just can't do it!

The 49ers rank 30th in passing yards per game. Thats right, Kaep is behind Tyrod Taylor, Winston, Carr, Cousins, Fitz, Alex Smith and even Cutler.

You cannot tell me all of these QBs have better threats than the 49ers do with VD, Boldin, Smith etc. (Cutler just got his only WR back last week). This tells me that the issue is:
1. QB. If Kaep cannot throw his WRs open, then he will continue to struggle to complete a pass.
2. Scheme - Something needs to change because completing a pass of even 3 yards was almost impossible last night. Terrible.

Right now we have a terrible O-line and a QB that is inaccurate and doesnt trust himself. Looking ahead in the schedule, the only games i see we could win are all on the road vs. Browns, Lions, and Bears. None are that easy of course.

I think it may be time to re-evaluate the QB position. I am a Kaep fan, but unless he is in the perfect situation, with the perfect personnel, he doesnt make the team any better. ANd unless you have a QB that can do that stuff, you will forever be average/bad in the NFL.

Originally posted by Marvin49:

Originally posted by ClassicNiner:

"Everyone shares a piece of the blame on that one. ALL of them right up to Tomsula."

I was agreeing with you 100%, Marvin, right up until that last line. The blame goes up higher than Tomsula. Who put him there? We have a dysfunctional organization, and the problems start at the top.

I don't disagree with that...but my point was THIS game, not the larger scheme.

He throw the ball away several times, including that airmail to Q on the sideline.