Post Game Analysis (vs. Saints)

I completely disagree. I was watching the clock like a hawk on Monday (like I'm sure all of us were) and I didn't really care how much time was still up there. The young offense and Alex Smith does not have enough experience in big-time comebacks to be worried about clock.

They did exactly what they needed to do, which was get the tie over with, and challenge the defense with stopping Brees to force overtime. They have nothing to be ashamed of, either. They were beaten by the NFL's best quarterback, fair and square.

Trying to run the clock down AND tie the game against the World Champs? That's asking too much of our still-very-amateur offense.

[ Edited by zillabeast on Sep 22, 2010 at 12:31:56 ]

Sing lacks the smarts to be a successful nfl head coach.

Only way he succeeds is if he hires above average coordinators.

He also said:

Quote:
This was a heart-breaking loss for the 49ers, unfortunately one that could have been avoided had they stayed in bounds a few times and milked the clock.

How would have a loss been avoided in a tie game going into ot?

Originally posted by zillabeast:
I completely disagree. I was watching the clock like a hawk on Monday (like I'm sure all of us were) and I didn't really care how much time was still up there. The young offense and Alex Smith does not have enough experience in big-time comebacks to be worried about clock.

They did exactly what they needed to do, which was get the tie over with, and challenge the defense with stopping Brees to force overtime. They have nothing to be ashamed of, either. They were beaten by the NFL's best quarterback, fair and square.

Trying to run the clock down AND tie the game against the World Champs? That's asking too much of our still-very-amateur offense.

Agree with this sentiment. We needed 8, or 6 PLUS a recovered on side kick and a FG. With this O, you need all the time that you can get.

That said, Ziegler should have stayed in bounds.

Originally posted by zillabeast:
I completely disagree. I was watching the clock like a hawk on Monday (like I'm sure all of us were) and I didn't really care how much time was still up there. The young offense and Alex Smith does not have enough experience in big-time comebacks to be worried about clock.

They did exactly what they needed to do, which was get the tie over with, and challenge the defense with stopping Brees to force overtime. They have nothing to be ashamed of, either. They were beaten by the NFL's best quarterback, fair and square.

Trying to run the clock down AND tie the game against the World Champs? That's asking too much of our still-very-amateur offense.

I somewhat agree with you but, even Gruden said we should use the middle of the field and run the ball to eat up more clock so Brees didnt have enough time. He is a SB winning coach and obviously his mind was in the right place.

Originally posted by susweel:
Sing lacks the smarts to be a successful nfl head coach.

Only way he succeeds is if he hires above average coordinators.

Right on - We gotta join forces bro to finally get a superbowl quality coach and staff.

Originally posted by Dominate:

Originally posted by zillabeast:
I completely disagree. I was watching the clock like a hawk on Monday (like I'm sure all of us were) and I didn't really care how much time was still up there. The young offense and Alex Smith does not have enough experience in big-time comebacks to be worried about clock.

They did exactly what they needed to do, which was get the tie over with, and challenge the defense with stopping Brees to force overtime. They have nothing to be ashamed of, either. They were beaten by the NFL's best quarterback, fair and square.

Trying to run the clock down AND tie the game against the World Champs? That's asking too much of our still-very-amateur offense.

I somewhat agree with you but, even Gruden said we should use the middle of the field and run the ball to eat up more clock so Brees didnt have enough time. He is a SB winning coach and obviously his mind was in the right place.

Gruden has more faith in our offense than I do then. Maybe that's a good sign? What are his plans for October?

Originally posted by Blitz:

Originally posted by 4evrfan:
What's not being discussed re time management is the final drive that actually took too little time! Sing or Alex himself, should have slowed things down a bit to use as much clock as possible at the end. They gave the Saints too much time to drive back for that field goal. Even one of the announcers mentioned it as the 9'ers were driving and sure enough...... Shouldn't Sing have thought of that? Just asking.

Not necessarily. We needed a td and 2 point conversion. 2 point conversions are much more likely to fail than succeed. If we were down by 7, then you would want to run the clock, IMO. But not 8,a td plus a two point conversion is a tough thing to accomplish....they are essentially what amounts to scoring 2 TD's in a row, except that you only get one down and 2 points instead of 7 points for the second one. Singletary could have chosen to run more time off the clock on the drive and stake the entire game on getting the two point. But if you miss the two point you are done, game over.

IMHO, it was the correct thing to do it the way it was done...you are hedging your bets, leaving as many options open to score as you can. If you miss the 2 point (we almost did, it had to be reviewed) you at least can get one last chance to get the ball back with a chance to do something with it by kicking the onside kick. Plus, the defense had played well enough to believe the chances of the Saints getting into scoring range were not overwhelmingly great. So you go for the two and hedge your bets by leaving some time on the clock in case you don't make it. If you make it that is great swell...you are now tied and your defense is playing well enough to give you a more than decent shot at not letting the Saints score so you can go to OT, or even,maybe,(with a very large bit of luck) win it in regulation.

this

Originally posted by zillabeast:

Originally posted by Dominate:

Originally posted by zillabeast:
I completely disagree. I was watching the clock like a hawk on Monday (like I'm sure all of us were) and I didn't really care how much time was still up there. The young offense and Alex Smith does not have enough experience in big-time comebacks to be worried about clock.

They did exactly what they needed to do, which was get the tie over with, and challenge the defense with stopping Brees to force overtime. They have nothing to be ashamed of, either. They were beaten by the NFL's best quarterback, fair and square.

Trying to run the clock down AND tie the game against the World Champs? That's asking too much of our still-very-amateur offense.

I somewhat agree with you but, even Gruden said we should use the middle of the field and run the ball to eat up more clock so Brees didnt have enough time. He is a SB winning coach and obviously his mind was in the right place.

Gruden has more faith in our offense than I do then. Maybe that's a good sign? What are his plans for October?

Maybe thats the problem? Sing doesnt have the confidence he should in our offense? Why else does he keep running the ball into 8 and 9 man fronts? We actually open it up and pass and we score in less than a minute with 0 timeouts.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm

Right... and had they milked the clock and failed the 2 pt. conversion, they put themselves in a tight spot to recover the on-side kick and make it down to FG range. Stupid.

The defense had been playing well enough that it was reasonable to believe they could hold the Saints. They didn't, that's just how it goes. The offense played the final drive perfectly. Hindsight is always 20/20.

Wrong.

Given the exact same situation again, I only wish we could do it faster.

Keep in mind we had to get a touchdown AND a two-point conversion. Do you know what the percentage of converting a two-point try is? It's 40%. That means we likely won't make it. Which means odds were we needed to recover an onside kick and hit a field goal with no timeouts.

Playing the odds, against a very good Saints defense...the Niners coaching staff made the right call. No doubt about it.

This jerk would've a video that said "Niners should have left more time on the clock" if we didn't convert the two-point try.

Hindsight is 20/20. Outstanding call by the coaching staff.

Originally posted by 49ERSAM:

Originally posted by susweel:
Sing lacks the smarts to be a successful nfl head coach.

Only way he succeeds is if he hires above average coordinators.

Right on - We gotta join forces bro to finally get a superbowl quality coach and staff.

I'm not calling for a coaching change just yet. I want to see how the season plays out.

My concern with Sing is that he may be too emotional to be a logical thinker in pressure situations.

Originally posted by znk916:
I like how he just ignores the possibility of failing the 2 pt conversion and not having enough time left to recover an onside kick and kick a fg.

Valid point, but if you look at the odds the chances of a success on a 2pt conversion are 40% and onside kick around 10%. The Saints getting in FG range with 2 to's and 1:30 were probably 50%. Replay the same game 100 times and running down the clock would have produced the best results.

Originally posted by okdkid:
Wrong.

Given the exact same situation again, I only wish we could do it faster.

Keep in mind we had to get a touchdown AND a two-point conversion. Do you know what the percentage of converting a two-point try is? It's 40%. That means we likely won't make it. Which means odds were we needed to recover an onside kick and hit a field goal with no timeouts.

Playing the odds, against a very good Saints defense...the Niners coaching staff made the right call. No doubt about it.

This jerk would've a video that said "Niners should have left more time on the clock" if we didn't convert the two-point try.

Hindsight is 20/20. Outstanding call by the coaching staff.

Do you know what the odds of getting an onside kick are when the other team knows its coming? about 10% maybe. Alex should have stayed in bounds on his last run and we are in over time. do you really need over a min to score inside the 10 yd line? Very poor clock management.

Originally posted by BobS:

Originally posted by znk916:
I like how he just ignores the possibility of failing the 2 pt conversion and not having enough time left to recover an onside kick and kick a fg.

Valid point, but if you look at the odds the chances of a success on a 2pt conversion are 40% and onside kick around 10%. The Saints getting in FG range with 2 to's and 1:30 were probably 50%. Replay the same game 100 times and running down the clock would have produced the best results.

Exactly what i just said, good post Bob.