Passing game, play-by-play Buffalo

To quote Chip Kelly in his post-game presser, "we have to get better in the passing game."

Here are the plays. I will leave my main comments until the end. In this game, one of the things I was hoping to see was improved footwork/mechanics and reading defenses by Kaepernick. Hence, I took extra time to review those issues in so far as I could tell from the broadcast. I include those in each play when obvious.

yard line - down/distance - result

Own 35 - 1/10 - shovel pass to Patton on fly sweep for 23 yards.

O47 - 1/10 - 6 yd completion to Kerley who had to go down to make reception, a pass on his numbers would have allowed 5+ YAC. If Kerley beats the safety, Patton is blocking for a big gain. NOTE: Buffalo had scouted Smith's streak route well from that formation where he lines up on the outside of the bunch. The DB went into back peddle before ball was snapped.

O41 - 2/3 - Inc. Overthrow wide open Smith behind DB for TD. CK had time and stepped into throw nicely. Just threw it too far.

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B32 - 1/10 - Inc. Overthrow wide open Draughn on left sideline, CK was "jumping" his feet around. Was flat-footed when he released the ball. Accurate pass = likely TD.

B29 - 3/11 - 14 yd completion to Smith. CK stepped up and made accurate throw.

B27 - 3/22 - 12 yd swing to Patton.

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O42 - 1/10 - 53 yd TD completion to Smith on blown coverage. Ball was under thrown. Smith had to stop to make catch at knees. CK had time and stepped into throw - ball was in the air only 36 yards.

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O25 - 1/10 - 13 yard swing completion to Patton. CK rolled left, had time.

O38 - 1/10 - 11 yd shovel pass to Patton on jet sweep. (Patton had 34 YAC on two jet sweeps.)

B36 - 1/10 - 7 yd completion to Smith on right side after roll out.

B30 - 3/5 - incomplete attempted screen to left. Threw ball into chest of LB who dropped a potential pick 6. BAD.

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O37 - 2/4 - incomplete to Smith on right sideline. Smith was open at LTG but ball was short and to outside. Announcers called it a drop, which it was technically but it was a horrible throw. Even if Smith had made the catch it would have short of the LTG. CK had his feet set well. Just misfired.

O32 - 3/9 - Incomplete. Overthrow to open Kerley on left sideline. CK had time but never settled his feet. Was jumping around and when he released the ball, his left foot was parallel with his right foot. Just really bad footwork all around.

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O16 - 1/10 - 4 yd completion to Kerley. Easy short throw. Good mechanics.

O21 - 2/15 - Incomplete. CK rolled right, No one open. Threw it away. Good decision.

O21 - 3/5 - Incomplete. 8 yd throw to Kerley on slant was high allowing DB to knock it down. If ball is down at waist level Kerley can shield defender for a catch.

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O20 - 1/10 - Incomplete slant to Patton. DB made good play. Good mechanics.

O24 - 2/11 - 17 yd completion to McDonald on rt sideline who makes good catch on high pass. Good mechanics. Good read.

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B31 - 1/10 - Incomplete. Under throw to Smith in the end zone who was open for TD. CK's front foot moves diagonally on a 30 degree angle to left leaving him with an open stance requiring a sidearm delivery. This foot movement was apparent on several throws in the game.

B29 - 3/8 - Incomplete. Under throw to open Kerley. Same diagonal foot work as in previous play with same result. Bad.

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O25 - 1/10 - Sack. Patton was open on left. Davis was open short middle. Didn't see them.

O18 - 22? - Incomplete. CK rolls left and throws it away deep. McDonald was open for gain short of LTG but there was nothing deep. All22 might show Streater was coming open deep but was not clear on broadcast screen.

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O37 - 1/10 - Incomplete in left flat to Davis. Was called a drop by announcers. Again, technically, it was. However, ball came out late to an open Davis and thrown to front shoulder while Davis was turned for back shoulder. Had ball come out on time Davis could had had 3-5 yard gain. CK delayed so Davis was almost to sideline by the time the ball arrived. No YAC opportunity even if he caught it.

B29 - 2/4 - CK under immediate pressure sack. This play is noted because Davis was the hot receiver open in right flat for 5-8 yd gain but CK never looked. It is an example of CK not reading post snap and being caught for sack.

B28 - 3/11 - 13 yd completion to Streater. Good footwork action. CK waited for Streater to come open on cross.

B12 - 1/10 - Incomplete to Davis. Again, called a drop by announcers, however, Davis was moving toward outside and ball was low and behind him. Accurate throw = 4-6 yd gain.

B12 - 3/10 - Incomplete into double coverage in back of end zone. No chance for completion there. Celek made outside break and appeared to be coming open when he left the screen. Draughn was open short with one man to beat to score.

B12 - 4/10 - Incomplete. CK rolled right and tried to force ball into end zone. Draughn was open short near LTG. Accurate throw to him would have made LTG, perhaps even TD.

SUMMARY: I can write off a certain amount of the misses today to rust, however, there were also just too many cases of the same problems we have seen with CK in the past. The same footwork problems we have all noted were present again. Accuracy issues were linked to the footwork. Hot reads were missed. Failure to go to checkdowns instead of forcing the ball long was still an issue. In short, it was the same old Colin Kaepernick.

Receivers were getting open though not by wide margins. There were plenty of plays there to be made, especially early in the game when momentum was even.

13 for 29 for 187 yards is not an acceptable performance, particularly when the TD came on broken coverage that any HS QB could have hit. Also, 93 of those 187 yards came on the two jet sweeps and the broken coverage TD. That isn't going to get the job done.

In a poll thread the question was asked if the change in QB would result in better, worse or the same offense. Based on the actual performance, the best you can say is "same," and that may be a stretch.

Let's hope next week is dramatically better.

I'm still taking a wait and see approach. First game back is bound to be awful. Yet it still wasn't that much worse than what we have seen from Gabbert. As long as he can show improvement over the next few weeks, I'm all for keeping him in there.

Nice breakdown. He's an improvement to Babbert but still not the long term solution. His 2 read ability hinders the offense and his poor footwork/mechanics affects his accuracy. Sure wish his Kurt Warner camp focused on passing when on the run because that's where his poor mechanics were exhibited the most. Also, I think Babbert's red zone efficiency stats are better than Kaep's. I believe this stat will continue as the shortened field exposes his 2 read ability and less room to run around.

Originally posted by Hawaii49er:
Nice breakdown. He's an improvement to Babbert but still not the long term solution. His 2 read ability hinders the offense and his poor footwork/mechanics affects his accuracy. Sure wish his Kurt Warner camp focused on passing when on the run because that's where his poor mechanics were exhibited the most. Also, I think Babbert's red zone efficiency stats are better than Kaep's. I believe this stat will continue as the shortened field exposes his 2 read ability and less room to run around.

Same dog. Different fleas.

same old krapernick

In an attempt to get this going; the good news was that there were more receivers getting open against a very good Buffalo defense than in the past. I will suggest that may have been a result of them trying harder to help Kaepernick regain his mojo, IDK, but it did appear that there were plays there to be made.

good summary DJ.

Originally posted by a49erfan77:

I'm still taking a wait and see approach. First game back is bound to be awful. Yet it still wasn't that much worse than what we have seen from Gabbert. As long as he can show improvement over the next few weeks, I'm all for keeping him in there.

That's an out
We're getting onto the easy part of our schedule. Tampa and the Saints are bad teams.
The numbers should easily improve (just like Ravens and Giants last year)

Originally posted by dj43:

Originally posted by Hawaii49er:

Nice breakdown. He's an improvement to Babbert but still not the long term solution. His 2 read ability hinders the offense and his poor footwork/mechanics affects his accuracy. Sure wish his Kurt Warner camp focused on passing when on the run because that's where his poor mechanics were exhibited the most. Also, I think Babbert's red zone efficiency stats are better than Kaep's. I believe this stat will continue as the shortened field exposes his 2 read ability and less room to run around.

Same dog. Different fleas.

Gabbert is better
They both suck, but Gabbert sucks less

Yup! Man, where has Blind been the last two days?

Originally posted by solidg2000:
Gabbert is better
They both suck, but Gabbert sucks less

I agree....

Gabbert looks scared out there but atleast he can complete more 50% of his passes. Either case I'm ready to see what ponder can do.

Tell me. How can we review our defense? Reid and Bethea are suck and avoid to tackle. Can u check about Reid and Bethea?

Originally posted by a49erfan77:
I'm still taking a wait and see approach. First game back is bound to be awful. Yet it still wasn't that much worse than what we have seen from Gabbert. As long as he can show improvement over the next few weeks, I'm all for keeping him in there.

It's not like he's a rookie we're waiting to see grow. 5 year vet needs to be completing more than 44% of his passes after a year off.

Kaepernick missed two tds to Smith yesterday. Smith should of had a total of three. Great write up. Seemed like the same Kap to me but I will also attribute some of that to rust.

Originally posted by kaynj:
Kaepernick missed two tds to Smith yesterday. Smith should of had a total of three. Great write up. Seemed like the same Kap to me but I will also attribute some of that to rust.

Yes, some of it was likely rust. Hard to tell what was rust and what was other factors.

The thing I will be watching closely against the Bucs will be his footwork/mechanics. If those things are better, then we can say rust. If not......