Originally posted by BrianGO:Originally posted by MadDog49er:
Here is what I saw, minus volume at the sports bar here in Ohio:
1) Hill seems to always make it look ugly, but in the end, he wins. I don't know how far he can take us, but the guys always seem to rally in the end behind him, even if he is off for much of the game. Very solid final drive.
2) I paid a LOT of attention to the OL, and here is how I would grade them:
* Staley and Heitmann played well for the majority of snaps. I saw Staley beaten twice, but not cleanly. Heitmann was beaten once on a run play, and a mix-up on pass protection with an inside blitz. Staley controlled the edge in the pass rush well, but was mediocre in run blocking. Heitmann did a fine job orchestrating protection for the myriad of inside blitzes the Cards through at the Niners all day. Had a great block, along with Rachal, on Gore's inside TD run. Brilliant by both players.
* Rachal had an up and down day. Gore's TD run was beautiful. Had some nice blocks on downfield runs. Runs very well on screen plays. His continual problem is angles. He seems to be beat far too often (some that were embarrassing) with quick interior defenders, and will need to be more consistent to be considered a solid starter. A certain work in progress.
* Baas really struggled today. Did a nice job on a few interior runs, but, like Rachal, takes bad angles. Unlike Rachal, he does not have the athleticism to recover, and, gets burned way too often. A serious problem all day for our OL. However, he was not the worst.
* Snyder- All I can say is "Yikes"! Until that last drive, was absolutely abominable. Torched repeatedly around the corner all afternoon, missed blocking assignments on run plays, looked really stiff, and has to be replaced. I couldn't figure out which RT on the field played worse in this game, since both stunk up the joint. As much as the majority of the board hates Sims, I have never seen Sims play this badly in a game. The team has to take a serious look at Pashos this week, and honestly, I'd be surprised if Snyder starts against the Seahawks. Made me pray for the return of Kwame Harris or Anthony Clements.
3) The Niners have to solve their problem with teams stacking the box. Until the end of the game (and I have no idea why the Cards played back in the final drive), the Cards showed no respect to the passing game. Frank Gore is going to look like Al Gore running the football if 8 guys are stacked in the box on every down.
Dare I say the two most evil words in the world: Michael Crabtree. Whether it is him, or someone else who the defense has to take seriously, this is going to be a problem.
You should watch the game again from your TIVO.
You seem to love Heitmann and dislike Snyder, so I can see how you subconsciously came to these conclusions.
In a word, "no," Adam Snyder is not in danger of losing his job; let me break down what happened.
Snyder:
1) In the first half there was a jail break blitz from the Cardinals. Their linebackers got through and Hill had to step back a step or two, this allowed Snyder's man to get around him and come in for the sack.
2) There was a play action where Snyder had to block down on Dockett (one of the best in the game) because he committed to a hard inside move. Unfortunately, David Baas was pulling on this play action and he ran straight into Dockett on the opposite side of Snyder. This caused Snyder to lose Dockett (Snyder can't block Baas and Dockett at the same time). If Baas did not run into Snyder's man it looks like Snyder would have washed Dockett to the outside. That one goes on the scheme, not Snyder.
3) There was a running play that LOOKED like Snyder got stuffed and Gore was tackled in the backfield. What happened was that Vernon Davis had to block down on a 300lb defensive end. It didn't work, and Davis was thrown 7 yards backwards into the hole. Snyder was blocking his man just fine on the edge, but it might have looked like it was his fault while watching at a sports bar.
4) There was another play that looked like Snyder got blown up on a run block. Snyder had to block down and he did fine, but then a linebacker came in through the middle. It looked like a big mess, Snyder actually peeled OFF his man and tried to stop the linebacker coming through the middle. On live TV, it probably looked like Snyder got killed by this linebacker when in reality, this guy was not his man.
5) Earlier on a run, Snyder sealed the edge just fine, but a linebacker came in (on yet another run blitz, will Raye ever get a clue?) right into the hole, and Gore tried to bounce outside, but there was nowhere to bounce because the edge was already sealed by Snyder (it was through the hole or nothing). This may have caused you to blame Snyder again because it was officially "Snyder's man" who made the tackle.
6) In the second half, Snyder got beat badly on a play. I'm sure this particular play is one you remembered. Snyder stupidly was trying to get a last minute signal in, he was literally pointing and had his head turned looking to his left at the center while the ball was snapped. He was trying to point out a blitz pickup, but the ball was snapped and he was out of position and let the guy easily get around him. This was a bad mental error and not a physical one.
7) There was another play action where Snyder blocked his man as if he was run blocking, but his man didn't buy it and threw him aside and got in just as Hill was throwing the ball. However, I believe this was the long bomb play to Bruce, so it looks like it worked.
8) Snyder blocked down on a lot of the Cardinals blitzes, this looked like Scheme more than anything. He blocked down on Gore's touchdown catch, for example, which allowed the linebacker to come in free, but I guess it worked.
Snyder had a lot of GREAT blocks in the running game and blocked well in the passing game on the vast majority of his plays.
His job is nice and secure and he will remain the starter after the coaches watch the film.
Baas:
Baas looked very raw out there. He only had like 1 or 2 weeks of practice so I think we need to cut him some slack, he made some nice plays and was generally a strong blocker.
Staley:
Generally solid, but I was focusing on the other guys.
Rachal:
Messed up a few times. He gets fooled a little too easily and seems to have trouble with his footwork, I think he fell over himself once or twice.
He seems to struggle with our strange, slow developing running scheme.
Heitmann:
I'm not going to complain about Heitman, because he does too many things well for me to nit pick him. But...
He was bull rushed into the pocket multiple times.
He is good, but Pro-Bowl caliber? I don't think he is physically gifted enough.
Like I've always said about Heitmann, he does everything perfect, except he gets pushed around a little too much.
Lots of pulls, traps and play actions seemed to confuse our own team more than they confused the Cardinals. Our players were tripping over each other and many running plays took a LONG time to develop.
The Cardinals did what they should have done. Attack! Attack! Attack!
They run blitzed our line all day, and our slow developing plays were no match for their defensive scheme.
Our O-line played much better than this game might have indicated.
We were blowing people up many times, its just that we were outnumbered all day. Their linebackers and safeties were living in our backfield, and we rarely took advantage of this with aggressive passes.
I think we will learn a lot from watching the film of this game.
We really hurt ourselves a lot with slow developing plays, both in the pass and run.
Also, after watching the game again, Shaun Hill missed a lot of opportunities. There were open receives on many occasions.
He needs to play better.
But you're right MadDog. At 8-3, he just seems to know "how to win."
Not as concerned with Snyder's run blocking as his pass blocking. Simply gets beat to the point of attack far too many times, either inside or outside.
I will say that Baas and Snyder should stay as far away from each other as possible. They screwed up virtually every tandem opportunity, some funny, and some maddening.