Week 1 2017: Thoughts after watching the game...

Marvin49 · 2017-09-11T10:04:25-07:00

Sadly I wasn't able to rewatch the game last night as life intervened (and was in the stadium so didn't see the TV broadcast yet), but I do have quite a few thoughts after watching what transpired yesterday... 1) Patience: I always start with the QB but I had to start with something else this time. The last two seasons we've seen fools gold in week 1. This time, as strange as it sounds with regards to the final score, I think I saw some real gold. The thing to realize though is that we are looking for small incremental steps this year. This isn't a playoff team. When I watch and rewatch these games I'm not looking at the scoreboard, I'm watching individual players and seeing if they can be building blocks for who this team might be a few years from now. With all that in mind... 2) Hoyer: Look, the dude was available and is making what he's making for a reason. I like the guy but anyone who thought he was going to be the savior in the franchise was kidding themselves. The next great QB in 49er lore isn't on the roster yet. That said, Brian played better yesterday than people give him credit for. The INT was bad but also a great play by Kuechly. There is a reason he's regarded as the best MLB in football. There were some plays where he missed a guy (Garcon in particular on one play stands out), but he also got ZERO help from the interior of the line (more on that later). He got no help from Goodwin on that drop that might have changed the landscape of the entire game and got no help from the refs (Goodwin was arm barred for about 10 years and Garcon was held nonstop for another 10). I'm not trying to make excuses for him, but I am trying to say that he didn't play as poorly as some would contend. 3) OG: Ouch. Not every defense is going to sport the front 7 that the Panthers do, but there are a few within the division that can...namely Seattle and LA. The 49ers offensively will do NOTHING this year if we see the same production week in and week out from the 49ers starting guards...Beadles in particular. I don't know that he's an upgrade, but Tomlinson will likely be in the starting lineup very, very soon. 4) Foster: I've been saying it since week 1 of preseason, dude just has "it". All over the field. If he can stay healthy, superstar in the making. He was erasing McCaffrey all over the field and nearly picked off another pass. When he got hurt the building just went SILENT. I for one was more distraught than I've ever been seeing a rookie get hurt. So glad it looks like he avoided a break in the bone and we'll get to see him again this season. 5) Solomon: ...I'm still not seeing it. The guy can move, he can hit, and he made a few plays on the ball carrier, but he was invisible for long stretches of the game. I'm still hopeful and I love the guy...but right now he's not in the same league as Reuben. Not close. It is VERY early though and he's raw. 6) Offense: So...this is going to sound odd. Niners were bad on O yesterday, but to me, it looked like they were sporting a real NFL offense. It sputtered, they couldn't get out of their own way, they were penalized like crazy and they couldn't block on the interior, but CONCEPTUALLY, they were running a real NFL offense for the first time in a decade or so. Its going to take time with so many new players and so many changes even with existing players, but the foundation is there. Shanahan has been called the QB killer at times in his career and IMO it has quite a bit to do with the learning curve on picking up his offense. Once its mastered tho it can turn Matt Ryan into an MVP. As I said with #1... Patience. 7) Defense: Lets be real...Cam was scattershot yesterday passing and missed at least one guy WIDE OPEN in the end zone, but the 49ers defense looks MUCH, MUCH better. Front 7 wasn't getting a ton of pressure, but they were swarming against the run. They still don't have that elite pass rusher yet, but all those other guys are players. I'm even including Solomon on that because he was good vs the run. There were a few breakdowns and that can happen in a brand new D, but those guys were moving the LOS and really bottled up McCaffrey even after Reuben went out. 8) Tartt: I was so annoyed when he missed that tackle but I was really impressed when he showed the range to get over for the INT. Should also be pointed out....if he didn't get there Dontae Johnson was actually in really good position and may have broken up that pass himself. 9) Hyde: He popped a few runs and looked pretty good, but I wish he wouldn't run so high sometimes. Got clotheslined once and popped pretty good by the safety on another play. Gotta stay low and protect himself. 10) Long Season: It was week one of a rebuild. We've been conditioned to see them look great in week one and then the inevitable starts in week 2. Well, it started a week early this year....but this is different. No gimmicks. No "lets see if we can get by". This is a real rebuild. Ground up. There are going to be weeks like this and there are going to be weeks they surprise some people. There is talent here but there is ALOT of learning that needs to take place and there are a lot of players that will be a part of the next playoff team that simply haven't been signed or drafted yet. If you were expecting huge improvement, you weren't paying attention. They will get a little bit better week to week but this season is about seeing which guys are building blocks and they've got a few of those.

Sep 11, 2017 at 10:14 AM

49oz2superbowl
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Agree with this analysis.

Honestly only thing that surprised/upset me was total lack of production from our DL.

OG is no surprise at all. People keep forgetting that Garnett (our first round OG) is out and Tomlinson was acquired to start but needs time to learn the offense, so Beadles is truly just a backup (who will likely be replaced as soon as Tomlinson is good to start).

All in all it's about as positive as a 20 point home loss can be save for our DL performance. Nothing unexpected, some growing pains in a complex offense and what should be expected when two backup OG face off against a top 3 interior DL which threw off the entire offense all game to compound on the growing pain penalties/miscues.

Sep 11, 2017 at 10:21 AM

Marvin49
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Originally posted by 49oz2superbowl:
Agree with this analysis.

Honestly only thing that surprised/upset me was total lack of production from our DL.

OG is no surprise at all. People keep forgetting that Garnett (our first round OG) is out and Tomlinson was acquired to start but needs time to learn the offense, so Beadles is truly just a backup (who will likely be replaced as soon as Tomlinson is good to start).

All in all it's about as positive as a 20 point home loss can be save for our DL performance. Nothing unexpected, some growing pains in a complex offense and what should be expected when two backup OG face off against a top 3 interior DL which threw off the entire offense all game to compound on the growing pain penalties/miscues.

I don't agree with the "total lack of production from DL".

They shut down the run. Were they getting consistent pressure? No, but thats not who they are. They don't have that elite pass rusher yet. They've got all the other guys. They'll also improve with time. Also....

IMO, the D played well enough to win. The O is where the Lions share of the problems were.

[ Edited by Marvin49 on Sep 11, 2017 at 10:22 AM ]

Sep 11, 2017 at 10:22 AM

Eastcoastniner
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They got zero pressure, idgaf what pff says

Sep 11, 2017 at 10:22 AM

Marvin49
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Originally posted by Eastcoastniner:
They got zero pressure, idgaf what pff says

M'Kay

Sep 11, 2017 at 10:24 AM

Ensatsu
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I don't know why people are dogging on Hoyer. You make Kirk Cousins the highest paid QB in the league, and you put him behind this line and these atrocious guards. Forget about it. He'll look just like how he did against the Eagles yesterday. Inaccurate and throwing interceptions. This team is not a franchise QB away from even being 8-8. So many holes on the interior that they need to fix next offseason.

Relying on Laken, who the Lions consider a bust akin to Chilo Rachal, is not very reassuring. This guy only came here on Martin Mayhew's recommendation.

Sep 11, 2017 at 10:24 AM

Eastcoastniner
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Originally posted by Marvin49:
Originally posted by Eastcoastniner:
They got zero pressure, idgaf what pff says

M'Kay

You disagree?

Sep 11, 2017 at 10:25 AM

NCommand
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It was a perfect epic fail on every level from injuries to play calling to penalties to execution. Basically, any possible scenario you could come up with losing, we did it. The only saving grace was Cam himself.

No doubt, everyone is going to watch their tape and cringe BUT, hopefully learn a ton from it.

Now let's see if they've learned in time to face a similar front 7 challenge and this time, with a far more accurate QB but far lesser OL.

Sep 11, 2017 at 10:26 AM

Marvin49
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Originally posted by NinerGM:
Nice summary Marvin, but here's what I think the game came down to: protection and holes.

The offense has to do its part, particularly the offensive line. It wasn't just the Beadles and Fusco, Kilgore called a terrible game and the protection calls were also wrong most of the time. In Shanny's offense the OC is responsible for calling protection and Kilgore was just plain bad at it. Sure Hoyer isn't Joe, but NO QB is good when the interior protection is routinely given up 1.5 seconds after the snap. Beadles in particular simply couldn't block one-on-one. It's like a defensive player not being able to run. Added to insult was the absolute lack of any sustained blocking in zones and defense routinely shed their blocks and went straight to the runner. It was a testament to just how talented Hyde is to even get the yards that he had. Hoyers early passes during the game were on the money. However any QB starts to rush throws and hear footsteps when he getting hit on every freaking play even after the ball is let go. Again, his interior line was MIA, including the center. Shanny *must* do something about this, maybe max protect but I know this completely changes his offense. And when the offense can't get anything going or even turn a gift turnover or stop into points, the defense at some point runs out of gas. We know this story all too well from years past. Poor OL play, even more than poor DL play IMHO is the death of teams and their most important player more times than not. Shanny opted to go with the motley crew on the interior and now he needs to fix it before the season is lost.

I wasn't trying to put blame on Hoyer. The biggest problem this team has is the interior O-Line. No question.

Sep 11, 2017 at 10:27 AM

49AllTheTime
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That deep goodwin drop killed us. would have been at the 2 early in the game

Sep 11, 2017 at 10:27 AM

#10

Eastcoastniner
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Originally posted by NinerGM:
Originally posted by Eastcoastniner:
They got zero pressure, idgaf what pff says

They got zero pressure in Q3 and 4. You can't expect the defense to save a young team. We knew they had not designated world-beater pass-rusher. That was known. What wasn't was that this offense could only score 3 points because of poor line play.

0 sacks

Sep 11, 2017 at 10:28 AM

#11

Marvin49
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Originally posted by 49AllTheTime:
That deep goodwin drop killed us. would have been at the 2 early in the game

Yup. The PI on him that didn't get called didn't help either.

Sep 11, 2017 at 10:28 AM

#12

Marvin49
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Originally posted by Eastcoastniner:

Originally posted by NinerGM:

Originally posted by Eastcoastniner:
They got zero pressure, idgaf what pff says

They got zero pressure in Q3 and 4. You can't expect the defense to save a young team. We knew they had not designated world-beater pass-rusher. That was known. What wasn't was that this offense could only score 3 points because of poor line play.

0 sacks

Pressure isn't just about sacks.

Sep 11, 2017 at 10:29 AM

#13

susweel
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Here is my recap of the game.

Sep 11, 2017 at 10:30 AM

#14

49AllTheTime
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Posts: 72,501

Originally posted by Marvin49:

Originally posted by 49AllTheTime:
That deep goodwin drop killed us. would have been at the 2 early in the game

Yup. The PI on him that didn't get called didn't help either.

Garcon mugging in the Redzone..it was just pathetic

idk if it was heard on TV but the fans started getting on the Refs. it was just that bad