Is it just me or does this feel like a Win?

I was at the game. It does not feel like a win well, because we lost...buuuut, it does not sting as much based on the idea that our offense finally showed up in the second half!!! It was like watching two total different games! The biggest observation that was apparent to me was the mobility that Smith displayed over Hill along with better reads instead of relying on check-downs after his first read. On several plays, if Hill would have stayed in, he would have been sacked at least three to four more times where A. Smith actually took off to gain several valuable yards. It was surprising to see Smith not think as much within the pocket and just react! I was thinking that maybe he got the hang of the offense the way Urban Meyer described that he had to do to be an efficient QB. Also the fact that Raye's offense is much like Turner's has probably helped his learning curve.

On another note, on that play where Slaton scored off the pass on a third down, there was a hardcore holding that was not called...even the Texan fans around me were saying that they got lucky on that one. There were several bad calls as well against us that really just killed us in the second half. Owen Daniels...man...that guy just seriously kept getting underneath our coverage...our safeties...so disappointing...this guy was open the whole game down the middle of the damned field!!! He pretty much had a career day!!! I had never even heard of this guy and all of a sudden the offense was going through him! On a positive note, Johnson was held in check for most of the game, except for that one long catch he had which really hurt, but the coverage was there. Our pass rush was ok at times during the game but not enough though...

In any case, I must say, Smith was fun to watch today, not to mention the production from the rook!!! He was lining up on the wrong side on several occasions but he came through when he had to. I am seriously excited to keep seeing Crabtree keep playing at that level, especially after learning the playbook a bit more. That rapport that Smith built with him during the bye week I think will pay dividends.

It sure does suck though that AZ won their game. We are now down one game in the standings The season is still just seven weeks old with a lot of football left to play. I have never been a Shaun Hill basher but man...he made it very difficult to like him today...especially after that really bad first half. What do you guys think?

Originally posted by amir_tn80:
If the league kept track of Moral Victories, we'd be the best team in the league right now. But they don't. So what we have is another loss.

yes its a loss, but i see where wshaheen321 is coming from.
i woke up this morning, missed the game(pretty poor i know) and jumped on the com expecting to see a niner win. but alas no! then i read the recap and started thinking.

finally the coaching staff has decided to make a change! im a hill fan but he has been very average and alex( if he can be consistent) is the type of QB this team needs to get to the playoffs.

crabtree looked very impressive and he'll only help alex and the rest of the offense get better

VD is starting to be a no 6 pic( leading the nfl in touch down receptions been a while since we had that)

the offense with alex at the helm has weapons other than gore!
and now he'll only get better as teams cant afford to go 8 in the box

and the o-line somewhat proved that they can provide a little protection for a QB that can get the ball out there. dont get me wrong still need a huge improvement but the signs were there.

so while we didnt win in the sense that were 3-3 not 4-2. there were alot positives and in a way we did win

it seems now we have a direction and a team (if the coaches do the right thing ) that can get us to the playoffs. heres hoping!

Originally posted by loyal9er:
Yeah, kind of deflating at the end as I thought we could get into field goal range to attempt the tie...... but in the grand scheme of things it was fun to beat up on the Texans the 2nd half 21-3. When you think you might have one of our biggest problems on offense figured out..... It's a win!!!

Start Alex next Sunday vs. Indy and he gives us a better chance of keeping the score close.

Alex will have some motivation as we played the Colts his rookie season and Manning called him after the loss and told him to hang in there as some friendly QB advice. I say Alex goes in thinking he could throw another 3 TD's with the weapons we have now.

Nothing would make me more happy then to see a shootout whether we lose or win against the colts. It would literally bring a tear to my eye to see smith and the offense go blow for blow against indy. Here is to Smith getting payback for his rookie season.

Originally posted by wshaheen321:
I don't know about most of you, but for me, it seems like we won for some reason. Maybe it's due to the fact that we actually saw signs of life from this anemic offense for the first time all season. 21 points in one half! We haven't seen that from our offense in a LONG time. Our defense did a good job, practically shutting down Houston in the second half, but they gave up Slaton's big run that probably clinched the game for the Texans.

This game showed us a lot of things:

1) Crabtree and VD are absolute studs. Morgan is taking the downgrade very well and is still making a contribution.

2) Alex Smith is indeed a phoenix. Boy is going to rise from the ashes, baby!

3) Isaac Bruce needs to sit down and have Morgan upgraded. I don't care if he's a sure-fire HOF'er. He certainly isn't playing like one, and shouldn't play just cause of what he did in the past. What have you done lately?

4) Our defense will be very good once we get our offense to not go 3 and out every drive. They get gassed too early in the game and can't hold in the 4th quarter when they have to. Just like today.


Have at it!!

It's just you...

Any time you start a QB controversy mid season it's over...this season is done if A.Smith starts next week. And speaking of his play...yeah it was impressive but it still ended in an INT...and he still hasn't experienced the ineptitude of our Oline over the course of a few games which would probably make any QB gun shy. This season is heading in a bad direction. I'll give sing a pass for year one but so far so bad.

Originally posted by jcs:

Originally posted by wshaheen321:
I don't know about most of you, but for me, it seems like we won for some reason. Maybe it's due to the fact that we actually saw signs of life from this anemic offense for the first time all season. 21 points in one half! We haven't seen that from our offense in a LONG time. Our defense did a good job, practically shutting down Houston in the second half, but they gave up Slaton's big run that probably clinched the game for the Texans.

This game showed us a lot of things:

1) Crabtree and VD are absolute studs. Morgan is taking the downgrade very well and is still making a contribution.

2) Alex Smith is indeed a phoenix. Boy is going to rise from the ashes, baby!

3) Isaac Bruce needs to sit down and have Morgan upgraded. I don't care if he's a sure-fire HOF'er. He certainly isn't playing like one, and shouldn't play just cause of what he did in the past. What have you done lately?

4) Our defense will be very good once we get our offense to not go 3 and out every drive. They get gassed too early in the game and can't hold in the 4th quarter when they have to. Just like today.


Have at it!!

It's just you...

Any time you start a QB controversy mid season it's over...this season is done if A.Smith starts next week. And speaking of his play...yeah it was impressive but it still ended in an INT...and he still hasn't experienced the ineptitude of our Oline over the course of a few games which would probably make any QB gun shy. This season is heading in a bad direction. I'll give sing a pass for year one but so far so bad.

Well it's a loss so it sucks. I agree to an extent with the controversy being a not good sign. However I found it very interesting that the same 5 guys up front we've been raggin' on looked energized and revitalized when Smith came in.

Those guys had to be getting frustrated with Hill and his penchant for stepping into sacks and holding the ball too long. It must have been refreshing protecting a, dare I say it, multi-dimensional QB. Even the run game picked up a little more steam in the second half.

I'm not bitter about this loss like the one against MINN or disgusted like I was against ATL. I'm actually excited that myths are being exposed...some held by the coaching staff and some by fans. Sean Hill gives us our best chance to win - he does not and has not for a while now...we are a power running ball control team - no we are not and that's okay because we discovered a passing game today with a pulse and that Raye is not as inept as some of us thought....Alex Smith is a bust - no he is not. He has had the most effed up start any NFL player could possibly have in the NFL. Nolan is a still a douche...our only offensive weapon is Gore - no he is not, we have VD, Crabtree and even Morgan and we still haven't even seen Jones yet....no way a rookie can contribute this late in the game - oh yes he sure the hell can and Crabtree is going to make everyone else better.....

Originally posted by amir_tn80:
If the league kept track of Moral Victories, we'd be the best team in the league right now. But they don't. So what we have is another loss.

So we are 3-1-2 then (W/L/Moral Victory). All we need now is a tie!

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
It's a win if ALEX is back and rebuilding his career from the dead. If he can become our Franchise QB all the other stuff doesn't matter. That's a win regardless of the loss on paper, VD's great game or Crabtrees impressive performace for little time in the system.

All those don't matter compared to ALEX. The bigggest problem we have on this team is lack of a Franchise QB. If we get that one solved we are on our way.

Pretty much this. And SD, you are a lot more positive all of a sudden! Welcome to my world!!

I'd much rather have another notch in the 'W' column but there definitely are a lot of positives to take from this game:

-Alex is back! And looking damn good. I hope he can keep that level of play up. There's no denying that our offense looked totally different with him out there.

-Vernon Davis has gone Super Saiyan!!! He looks unstoppable.

-Crabs looked good too. 5 catches for 50 some yards isn't bad for a rook that missed so much time. And if I recall, it would have been 6 for about 80 yards if one didn't get called back. More importantly, his presence alone has opened up our passing game some more. I know it was his first game, but he has the ability to get open and that's something the defense has to respect.

And he has absolutely sick hands. He catches anything thrown near him.

However, here's the bad:

-O-Line play overall is still horrid. They played better with Smith out there but his mobility masked some of their (continued) goof ups. And while I think that one day he'll be a quality starter, Rachal needs to be benched.

-Running game still isn't on track. I know our O-Line is playing crappy (and I'll probably get flamed for this), but Gore just doesn't impress anymore with his running. He looks slow, he constantly runs into his own lineman, and doesn't seem able to shake off defenders anymore. What's more worrisome is that we don't have a capable backup either. Coffee won't cut it.

Also, we never run outside. Why? Are we calling only inside runs because we know Gore won't make it to the outside?

All in all, if yesterday is any indication, I think we can still make the playoffs with Smith at the helm. Next week will be a tough one for us but after that the schedule gets considerably easier.

Originally posted by forty9ers49:
Alex Smith really just made the whole offense look like a real NFL offense rather than a high school team. I don't understand why the O line looked so much better all of a sudden but it obviously had something to do with Smith. Also, the 2 plays where he ran, Hill would've ended up taking a sack or throwing an incompletion. Smith definetely gives me more reason for optomisim going into the rest of the season

Originally posted by hondakillerzx:
it does feel like a win. atleast we found our QB and showed that our OC isnt a complete moron.

Fixed.

It feels like a win, but the reality is that we now need to win at least 7 if not 8 of the remaining 10 games.

After beating the Giants, Arizona may well go 12-4 or 11-5 with its soft schedule.

The hope for 9-7 to get into the playoffs will no longer cut it, in my view. We'll need to beat Arizona again, as well as either Greenbay or Philly at their parks, and hope that Arizona chokes on one of the soft teams they will play.

If we can upset the Colts this Sunday, it will help the picture immensely.

I usually feel sick to my stomach after a close loss, but the feeling wasn't there this time.

As a team, we've gained more from this loss than we ever have. We now have a real quarterback, an explosive WR that catches everything, a top-3 NFL TE, and (hopefully) an offensive package that plays to these strengths.

Singletary knows what he's doing -- he and Raye play to our offense's strengths. But we now have a live arm at QB, weapons in the passing game, and a solid running back, he will open things up.

I don't know how we're going to perform vs. the Colst, but I'm hopeful that we can build on what we started in Houston -- then unleash it when we get back home.