I watched the game again last night. Some observations (not in order of importance):
- The refs missed too many things for both teams.
- Seemed like Ward took a lot of pride in being tasked with lining up against Fitzgerald - and overall he did a good job.
- Dorsey at NT looked pretty darn good and that seemed to help Buckner and Dial quite a bit.
- OLBs did a good job sealing the edges
- Brock didn't play particularly well overall
- I have been a fan of Bethea and you see him still quarterbacking the secondary but, uhg, he just has lost something.
- I would like to see Carradine's game grade. He didn't do much that was outstanding, but he seemed to play better than I remember
- Good that they were solid at stopping the run - now they have to put more pressure on the quarterback (especially against Brady next week)
- Patton is looking about as good as I've ever seen him play
- Torrey Smith was terrible at blocking (I suppose his hurt back might be making him more cautious)
- McDonald seems to have found his hands! Yay!
- I thought it was a mistake to let Boldin go but Kerley has probably more than made up for that loss (fields kicks, too)
- Most of the time the OL did a solid job of giving Kap a reasonably good pocket and time - probably the single biggest improvement since last year
- I don't know if it is scheme or execution or both, but it's obvious that the OL isn't providing enough running lanes for the RB (duh)
Kap - he looks like he is getting his confidence back. Still missing some dump offs when the downfield reads are negative and pressure is coming. Still doesn't throw with anticipation (maybe that will get a bit better as he gets more familiar with the system). But he is showing some of the improvisation skill that makes DCs worry. His touchdown pass was an example of some of those things. He probably should have dumped the ball off and almost got corralled but used his athleticism to get free and scramble to his right and found Kerley standing all alone in the end zone. That throw while scrambling hard to his right without stopping and setting is the kind of thing that gets me to thinking he really is getting his confidence back. But what's with sliding before a defender is within yards of him when he runs? I get wanting to protect yourself but that's too cautious.
I understand why so many people think it is highly unlikely that Kap will be back next year, but I'm not so sure. He clearly doesn't like the team's management but they did work out a deal and have been fairly supportive of his political protests so maybe that indicates that even if he doesn't care for them that much that he feels like he can deal with them in a business sense. I get the feeling that Kelly and Kap are developing a nice rapport. If Kap continues to get better, it wouldn't surprise me to see him back next year.
[ Edited by 49erphan on Nov 17, 2016 at 9:21 AM ]