My overall take on the team through 7 weeks

Im a die hard 49ers fan and I will watch every game they play whether they suck or are good. First ill start with the Defense. Right now I see a team that has some good young talent but are missing a few pieces that will make DRAMATIC improvements. From a talent standpoint our run Defense is terrible, the worst ive ever seen, but the more I watch of the tape the more convinced I am that the main talent issue we have right now is at the ILB position. I constantly see Bellore, Whilhoite, Hodges making mental and physical mistakes. Sure, at times some of the play calls and some of the schemes might not be the best, but right now need #1 on defense is ILB help. What is the difference with our defense from the first few weeks, where our run D wasn't spectacular but it was mediocre, to now where the past few weeks teams are running on us at a record pace? Answer: its the ILB position, first was Ray Ray, who is a decent run defender, not great then a few weeks later we lost Bowman. Bowman masked a lot of deficiencies that our D has, especially up front. Everyone else has stayed the same, so not only do the stats say, but also the film that the main weakness is ILB play.

#2 would be NT help. Buck, AA, Dial, Purcell... none of them should be playing NT, that is not their strength as players. Sure there are several times our young DL gets out leveraged or is out of position but these are expected. I am not saying they are without blame, but if we had a run stuffing NT it would alleviate some of the pressure Buck and AA have in stopping the run. I also think our Pass D has suffered due to our Defense focusing so much on trying to stop the run. I have seen several times we stay in base D when the other team comes out in 3 or 4 WR's because our coach is so afraid of getting gashed in the run game. When your giving up 200-300 yards a game as a defender, it doesn't matter what position you play, subconsciously you will be over playing for the run whether you think they will run it or not.
I will just make a quick statement on scheme, I for the most part like JoN's pass D. I like that he has a ton of blitz packages, I like that he mixes up his defenses with man and zone, I like that he presses a lot since I think we have some corners who can do it, and I like that he pattern matches. I HATE how he has his DL play the run. We don't know exactly what he teaches but I think its safe to assume he teaches them too often to split gaps and be aggressive, causing the ILB's to guess which way the DE's are going.

In terms of offense, I think this is an area that will need a lot more help. I will start by saying I don't have a ton of issues with Chip and his offense, I would like to see him vary up his run looks a bit. Right now we have a run game that cant break off big runs. All of our big runs have either come from Gabbert or Kap scrambling. I cant remember the last time our RB broke off a 25+ yarder. As a whole, we need better run blocking, but some of that is due to teams not being afraid of our pass game. Obviously our #1 need is a QB... for example last week against the bucs when we were down 14 to 27 in the 4th q, we ran 13 plays for 49 yards that took 6 minutes... that means we are dinking and dunking our way down the field. We don't have near the concistency as an Offense to continually run that many plays and be effective, our qb's aren't accurate enough. Sure we can have 1 or 2 drives a game where we can work our way down the field for some scores but that isn't something we can do concistently. I think that is a big issue Chip is having, we just cant seem to get any big passing plays.

#2 need on offense is WR... I would like to see us make a big play in FA to grab Jeffrey, and also take a WR in the first 2 rounds. Chip needs a specific kind of player to run his offense. His offense isn't a universal kind of offense, he cant have massive slow moving OL, he needs big physical receivers who can run block and beat man coverage, he needs a QB with repetitive accuracy in the mid range passing game, passes 5-15 yds down field. all this opens up that opportunity for those deep posts for 40+ yard gainers.

Finally, I don't think this is a 4-5 year rebuild, the main thing is we have to find our franchise qb this draft and start to build around him. Like I said in the beginning, we have a lot of talent on D, and some solid young pieces on the OL. We need to be very active in FA grabbing an ILB, NT, WR and we need to focus on offensive skill players this year in the draft. By year 3 of Chip at the helm I can see us competing for the playoffs, maybe even next year if our Rookie qb is able to come in and give us solid play. I know this year sucks, but you gotta stick with your team through the good and the bad.

Good thoughts, Lucky. I also like what JoN does on the backend with coverages. Mostly because it's interesting to watch from a film perspective with the variety he comes with. That article you linked about his run defense (Bills film thread) was insightful and there are too many non-talent related factors working against it - roster turnover, complexity, more sub packages being played nowadays. He needs to adjust as a DC and scrap it. Maybe bring it back when he is more experienced. Coaches develop too. For now, simplify and let these youngsters just play without thinking too much so they first refine technique.

So many issues with the offense that it's hard to isolate what area needs the most improvement, so 'all of it' is a start. For this season, I'd like to see more substituting of personnel. Chip isn't going that fast from play to play this season. Much slower than previous years. May as well sub players and get more variety of formations and matchups. With Kap in, I'd like to see more designed QB runs. There are some QB sweeps, let's see more. Run a QB option pitch. Just throw all the variety possible with a running QB. Not saying run him 15 times a game, but 6-8 is good.

A big issue now is if the team continues to practice and play hard. I think a young roster is less likely to quit on the season this early. Chip might be able to get the "improve every day" message across to the team. I'm just looking forward to individual player development now.

I truly think WR is a need over QB at this juncture. The fact that most of our receivers drop pass after pass is glaring.

That's a lot of words. No time to read.

My take is, they suck.

we needed to add playmakers and defenders ... we drafted Theus, Redmond and Cooper when we could have added firepower for the offense , and a capable defender , we needed players that could have hit the field and contributed this season.
who knows, Theus and Cooper may eventually pan out , but after the Brandon Thomas bust, I'm not too confident in these two guys right now , and Redmond may also be a solid CB down the road, but right now he is in the "Baalkes injured platoon category" ...I'm sick of getting burned by Trent's injured picks not panning out , Tank is a total bust in my book, and I hope we get rid of him AND Harold next season , both of them have combined for a whopping ZERO SACKS, they are both a couple of Lemonier's , and Buckner and Garnett should be on the field, being they are 1st round picks , and I am hopeful both will develop into solid players for us for a long time , and as of right now, Rashard Robinson is the only rookie I see showing promise of being a top player at some point

Baalke's drafts have sunk this team to new lows, and his failure to bring in Free agents to improve the team gets him another F on his report card , we need Trent gone ASAP, and It seriously pains me to say that, being I went to school with the guy at Bemidji St University

Originally posted by SoCold:
That's a lot of words. No time to read.

My take is, they suck.

At this point - they suck

What many of us have said for years - a real NT to anchor the DL

Then, the right coaches to teach these guys about getting their pad levels lower.

Than Trade or draft ILBs

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:

Maybe this

Originally posted by SoCold:
That's a lot of words. No time to read.

My take is, they suck.

This for sure tho

Originally posted by LVJay:

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:

Maybe this

They have been a good first half team most of the time. They need to follow it through.

It does take time to get the player's heads around the new Chip Scheme. Even though the win/loss ration is worse then this time last year there are some definite improvements. Firstly and most significantly is that the pocket is a lot more robust than last year although still needs some work.

QB issues must improve though Kap's experience has made him a better option than Gabbert at the moment. We still do not have much of a passing game but it make take a few more games for us to properly assess Kap as he gets to know the scheme and gets his eye in for longer passes.

Kick off and punt returners need to work harder.

Defence is too porous and is just to off the mark. We miss Navaro but defence needs to be more then one man.



Overall I think we just need more time to settle into our grove with the new scheme and need to work on some significant areas of weakness such as defence and our passing game.

It is a rebuilding year and we cannot expect miracles

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:

Originally posted by LVJay:

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:

Maybe this

Lol two yawns for a maybe?

Originally posted by Goatie:
They have been a good first half team most of the time. They need to follow it through.

It does take time to get the player's heads around the new Chip Scheme. Even though the win/loss ration is worse then this time last year there are some definite improvements. Firstly and most significantly is that the pocket is a lot more robust than last year although still needs some work.

QB issues must improve though Kap's experience has made him a better option than Gabbert at the moment. We still do not have much of a passing game but it make take a few more games for us to properly assess Kap as he gets to know the scheme and gets his eye in for longer passes.

Receivers need to work harder.

Defence is too porous and is just to off the mark. We miss Navaro but defence needs to be more then one man.

Receiving is not aggressive enough though the hands are safe.

Overall I think we just need more time to settle into our grove with the new scheme and need to work on some significant areas of weakness such as defence and our passing game.

It is a rebuilding year and we cannot expect miracles

What is it? Are the players tired after one half of Chip ball... coaches adjust better than Chip after halftime... is the season already wearing out our players because of Chip's schemes...

#MaybeWeJustSuckPeriod

Originally posted by LVJay:
What is it? Are the players tired after one half of Chip ball... coaches adjust better than Chip after halftime... is the season already wearing out our players because of Chip's schemes...

#MaybeWeJustSuckPeriod

Yeah maybe but I am trying to be optimistic and look at things in their best light and hope my hope is not pure delusion

Originally posted by Goatie:
Yeah maybe but I am trying to be optimistic and look at things in their best light and hope my hope is not pure delusion

We need the optimism, it's all good