Time for the San Francisco 49ers to Push the Panic Button
Through the
San Francisco 49ers first two preseason games the team that many considered among the best in the NFL has been outscored by a combined 57-3. Today a report surfaced in which the writer stated that these losses have caused frustration to surface among players due to contract situations and a demanding practice schedule. Members of the lunatic fringe have come to the conclusion that
Trent Baalke suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder and the team is in shambles with only 2 weeks left before the start of the season in
Dallas. They are asking:
"What is wrong with the 49ers?"
The answer is absolutely nothing other than an unsettled situation at backup quarterback, which is the case for about 29 other teams in the NFL.
Here's the situation as it stands now. Through the first two preseason games the starting offense has been on the field for a total of three series. The starting group has played without
Michael Crabtree and
Frank Gore for all but three plays, and starting right tackle
Anthony Davis hasn't played a single snap as he recovers from offseason shoulder surgery. Davis is expected to start practicing with the team today, going through only individual drills as he ramps up to be ready for the season opener.
Despite playing without three of its best players, the 49ers first offense under the direction of
Colin Kaepernick has moved the ball into scoring position on each of it's three drives. They are progressing very nicely as the season draws near.
"Trading for Blaine Gabbert is Baalke's worst decision as an NFL general manager. Gabbert is horrible, actually worse than horrible. If Kaepernick goes down the 49ers are doomed!"
I disagree. Not with the argument on how poorly Gabbert has played, but that the 49ers are doomed. Let me explain. After a two game losing streak early in 2013 left them with a 1-2 record,
Jim Harbaugh and
Greg Roman changed things up and went back to their strength. Strong defense, and the running game. The result was five straight wins while scoring an average of just under 35 points per game. During that stretch the quarterback threw the ball on less than 40% of their offensive snaps.
If Gabbert can hand the ball off and keep from turning the ball over the 49ers will be fine should he be forced into action.
"But the starting defense has been terrible! Didn't you see how Peyton Manning carved them up on Sunday!"
You mean the group that didn't include any of the starting defensive lineman, and was playing without
Patrick Willis or
Tramaine Brock? The group that played so vanilla that Christian Grey had to turn off the TV?
On Sunday the 49ers defense sat in it's base defense for the majority of the time that Manning was in the game. A future Hall of Fame quarterback like Peyton Manning should have no trouble finding holes in a standard zone defense. It's like shooting fish in a barrel. When these two teams face off again in week 7 you can rest assured that the defense will be mixing things up quite a bit more than they did on Sunday.
The other issue that missing so many starters on defense has caused is the 49ers basically have been playing their backups against starters. This also means their third string unit is taking on the opponents back ups and so on. While it has been ugly to watch so far, having to "play up" will begin to pay dividends during the regular season when the starters get back in their. Now the backups will have experience playing against the best competition and that is a good thing.
For the members of the lunatic fringe, take a deep breath, relax, and realize that this is the preseason.
The opinions within this article are those of the writer and, while just as important, are not necessarily those of the site as a whole.
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Kareem
Remember JH's first preseason game as our coach? Remember the Saints throwing the farm at us? Remember us using that game tape to come back and beat them in the playoffs? Yeah, move along. Nothing to see here.
Aug 23, 2014 at 2:56 AM
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pierce69
this just in from ESPN....fans in San Francisco or a wash in doom and gloom local psychiatrist predict mass suicide
Aug 22, 2014 at 12:07 PM
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Uncle Herbie
The 2008 Detroit Lions went a historic 0-16. Guess what their preseason record was?
Aug 20, 2014 at 8:57 PM
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Great point about Gabbert
While I still hope nothing serious happens to Kap, if worst comes to worst and we have to throw Gabbert in there, I'm pretty sure Roman and Co. will create a gameplan that is designed to keep the ball out of his hands as much as possible. Very run heavy, with quick drops and short passes, and maybe the occasional downfield bomb to keep the defense honest, but nothing special.
Aug 20, 2014 at 7:12 PM
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Frank M
No, it's not time to panic. It's time for the Niners to play ball as we know they can. Don't put that much credence in preseason games...Harbaugh's deliberately keeping things pretty vanilla. He's resting his vets a lot...saving them for the regular season. Does he expect his team to play better? Of course, but there are two more preseason games to settle things down. If Gore's not worried, neither should we.
Aug 20, 2014 at 4:24 PM
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Ed
This is why I don't watch the Pre Season....bcoz more than 50% of the Players on the field will most likely not be with the Team. So why bother? And Manning don't scare anyone anymore no matter how many stats he puts up during the reg. season. All I remember is growing up 49ers fan in Cincinnati back in the 80s, most Bengals fans' just simply wish Joe won't play in the Superbowl where he simply eclipse every great QB of his era.
Aug 19, 2014 at 7:11 PM
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geriatric
Nice writing.. I agree. They have talent… just need to execute. I think we have a good team.
Aug 19, 2014 at 7:00 PM
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MY NAME IS DAN
[email protected]!!!! THAT IS GOOD, PRESEASON ALWAYS BRINGS OUT THE BEST I REMEMBER WHEN SINGLETARY WENT 3-1 I BELIEVE AND THEN WENT 7-9 OR 6-10 SOMETHING LIKE THAT, CORRECT ME IF IM WRONG. I WILL TRADE A BUTTKICKIN IN PRE(TEND)SEASON FOR A VICTORY IN REAL SEASON ANYDAY!! MANNING WILL BE LOOKING THROUGH HIS EARHOLE COME THEN. NICE ARTICLE I DEAL WITH THE SAME CRYBABYING AT WORK, "THEY HAVENT SCORED A TOUCHDOWN YET" BLAH BLAH BLAH ITS STILL PRETEND SEASON. I HOPE THEY GO 0-4 AND 14-2
Aug 19, 2014 at 4:27 PM
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Kendrick Wells
Great article. Rudyard Kipling would be proud!
Aug 19, 2014 at 3:58 PM
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