OL play-by-play analysis

11. I recall Vernon was open for a hot read, but then again the blitzer was pretty much in Alex's face. Still think he could've dumped it off or at least attempted it.

Originally posted by Goldtimer:
11. I recall Vernon was open for a hot read, but then again the blitzer was pretty much in Alex's face. Still think he could've dumped it off or at least attempted it.

On that play, I thought Vernon should have at least given that DL a chip block before releasing. He was looking to get the ball all the way without giving Alex a break for that unblocked DL.

BTW, great job dj!!

....
Even Dwight Hicks on the post-game criticized the play calling as predictable and unaspiring those 1 first 3 qtrs.

Originally posted by Goldtimer:
11. I recall Vernon was open for a hot read, but then again the blitzer was pretty much in Alex's face. Still think he could've dumped it off or at least attempted it.

As you said, the blitzer was directly in Smith's face so quickly it would have been hard to throw the ball anywhere safe.

Another issue is that Vernon Davis has NEVER developed the awareness to be a dependable "hot read" target. That, along with his penalties, is his biggest weakness, and it hurts the offense a lot. It leaves a big hole in the offense.

All the truly good TEs in the league are good at making hot reads. It is the very nature of their position to be the most likely, and available target in those situations. Let's hope that Davis, like the rest of the offense, will benefit from the same offensive system this off-season.

Nice work DJ.

Our play calling was way to predictable in the 1st half. The Rams passed more than we did and took more shots downfield with Null. EVen the announcers were saying, "wow, a record number of draws and screens from the 49ers."

And surprise..we open up the play book and we do well.

Great post. Thanks for taking the time to do that.

Originally posted by LambdaChi49:
Nice work DJ.

Our play calling was way to predictable in the 1st half. The Rams passed more than we did and took more shots downfield with Null. EVen the announcers were saying, "wow, a record number of draws and screens from the 49ers."

And surprise..we open up the play book and we do well.

When the 49ers DID go downfield, they had success. The 35 yarder to Crabtree and TD to Davis were nice. PI should have been called on another pass to Davis. The long incompletion to Crabtree was open but the ball was on the wrong side.

That could have been 3 out of four long ball completions if the PI was called. Worth continuing.

There are also times when the team blitzes 2 or more guys which means there's more blitzers than blockers. These are times when Alex needs to be ready to scramble or find the hot route. I don't think you can blame these types of blitzes primarily on the OL. The QB needs to help also and not look past 10 yards for a route that's going to take more than 2 seconds.

Originally posted by Joecool:
There are also times when the team blitzes 2 or more guys which means there's more blitzers than blockers. These are times when Alex needs to be ready to scramble or find the hot route. I don't think you can blame these types of blitzes primarily on the OL. The QB needs to help also and not look past 10 yards for a route that's going to take more than 2 seconds.

Do any of our receivers turn around for the hot read? How well did Mcnabb do vs the blitz this week?

Originally posted by Joecool:
There are also times when the team blitzes 2 or more guys which means there's more blitzers than blockers. These are times when Alex needs to be ready to scramble or find the hot route. I don't think you can blame these types of blitzes primarily on the OL. The QB needs to help also and not look past 10 yards for a route that's going to take more than 2 seconds.

If there's nobody to throw the hot route to then what does he do? I've noticed that our offense is very susceptible to a delayed blitz.

This line rarely opens holes for Gore let alone allow Smith to scramble.

-9fA

Originally posted by 9erfanAUS:

Originally posted by Joecool:
There are also times when the team blitzes 2 or more guys which means there's more blitzers than blockers. These are times when Alex needs to be ready to scramble or find the hot route. I don't think you can blame these types of blitzes primarily on the OL. The QB needs to help also and not look past 10 yards for a route that's going to take more than 2 seconds.

If there's nobody to throw the hot route to then what does he do? I've noticed that our offense is very susceptible to a delayed blitz.

This line rarely opens holes for Gore let alone allow Smith to scramble.

-9fA

Then Alex of all people should know that he's not going to have time to throw for a completion and use that athletic ability on moment he touches the ball. That is what mobile QBs do in the learning stages, they run more often. He's averaged about 3 yards per run whereas Hill averaged about 8. Why is it that one guy who is much slower than the other can average for longer runs?

These are the instincts everyone is complaining about: not passing the eye test. These are things Alex should read presnap and if he doesn't have a hot route, then he must be robotic to a fault to the point of dumb on the field.

Originally posted by Joecool:

Originally posted by 9erfanAUS:

Originally posted by Joecool:
There are also times when the team blitzes 2 or more guys which means there's more blitzers than blockers. These are times when Alex needs to be ready to scramble or find the hot route. I don't think you can blame these types of blitzes primarily on the OL. The QB needs to help also and not look past 10 yards for a route that's going to take more than 2 seconds.

If there's nobody to throw the hot route to then what does he do? I've noticed that our offense is very susceptible to a delayed blitz.

This line rarely opens holes for Gore let alone allow Smith to scramble.

-9fA

Then Alex of all people should know that he's not going to have time to throw for a completion and use that athletic ability on moment he touches the ball. That is what mobile QBs do in the learning stages, they run more often. He's averaged about 3 yards per run whereas Hill averaged about 8. Why is it that one guy who is much slower than the other can average for longer runs?

These are the instincts everyone is complaining about: not passing the eye test. These are things Alex should read presnap and if he doesn't have a hot route, then he must be robotic to a fault to the point of dumb on the field.

He uses his athletic ability for that now famous rollout to his right that everybody is complaining about. Shaun Hill has a career rush average of 4.3 yards while Smith has a career rush average of 3.5 yards so I'm not quite sure what kind of favorable stats you're looking at.

Smith is mobile not in the way that he's a running QB, but that he can be used in rollouts and goal-line option plays. Hence, the yardage numbers don't tell the full story.

But you're right on one account and that is that Alex needs to play with better instincts. He needs to be able to do more when the play falls apart. This has been a criticism of mine as well.

-9fA

Originally posted by 9erfanAUS:

Originally posted by Joecool:

Originally posted by 9erfanAUS:

Originally posted by Joecool:
There are also times when the team blitzes 2 or more guys which means there's more blitzers than blockers. These are times when Alex needs to be ready to scramble or find the hot route. I don't think you can blame these types of blitzes primarily on the OL. The QB needs to help also and not look past 10 yards for a route that's going to take more than 2 seconds.

If there's nobody to throw the hot route to then what does he do? I've noticed that our offense is very susceptible to a delayed blitz.

This line rarely opens holes for Gore let alone allow Smith to scramble.

-9fA

Then Alex of all people should know that he's not going to have time to throw for a completion and use that athletic ability on moment he touches the ball. That is what mobile QBs do in the learning stages, they run more often. He's averaged about 3 yards per run whereas Hill averaged about 8. Why is it that one guy who is much slower than the other can average for longer runs?

These are the instincts everyone is complaining about: not passing the eye test. These are things Alex should read presnap and if he doesn't have a hot route, then he must be robotic to a fault to the point of dumb on the field.

He uses his athletic ability for that now famous rollout to his right that everybody is complaining about. Shaun Hill has a career rush average of 4.3 yards while Smith has a career rush average of 3.5 yards so I'm not quite sure what kind of favorable stats you're looking at.

Smith is mobile not in the way that he's a running QB, but that he can be used in rollouts and goal-line option plays. Hence, the yardage numbers don't tell the full story.

But you're right on one account and that is that Alex needs to play with better instincts. He needs to be able to do more when the play falls apart. This has been a criticism of mine as well.

-9fA

Overall, I agree with you. The averages I was talking about are the ones from this year in Raye's offense.

Originally posted by Joecool:
There are also times when the team blitzes 2 or more guys which means there's more blitzers than blockers. These are times when Alex needs to be ready to scramble or find the hot route. I don't think you can blame these types of blitzes primarily on the OL. The QB needs to help also and not look past 10 yards for a route that's going to take more than 2 seconds.

Blitzes have been a problem all season, especially the A/B gap blitz. This particular blitz is relatively new, and very effective. For those not aware, it is when the opponents sends a pass rusher on each side of the nose tackle to attack the gap on the left and right side of the center. It not only creates 3-on-2 mismatches in the line, but it brings puts rushers, and hands, directly in front of the QB. This negates much to the opportunity to dump a quick pass over the middle into the area just vacated by the blitzing defenders. Sometimes the defense will look like both gaps will be attacked, then wait until the center makes the blocking call and
then pull one of the blitzers back. This puts tremendous pressure on the center and guards to switch on the fly in order to block it. This season, Rachal has been particularly abused by this, and Baas has been a frequent victim as well.

Yesterday the Rams had some success with this both in pass rush situations but also using a variation of it on run plays as well. BTW, Spagnuolo was one of the pioneers of this while with NYGiants.

Back to the 49ers; I don't want to excuse Smith from not recognizing the patterns. He should. However, a CRUCIAL component in defeating this blitz package is the TE being able to read it and adjust his route into open areas that are AVAILABLE to the QB. Davis has NOT been able to do this. All too often he just runs into dead space in the middle of the field but the blitzers have already taken away that passing lane so Davis is unavailable. He needs to learn to run a quick arrow route (angle in and then reverse - looks like an arrow) to get into an open passing lane. He can't just LOOK open. It does no good if he has beaten his man but into an area in which Smith has no lane to throw the ball.

I am not sure if I blame all of this on Davis or if Pete Hoerner just isn't teaching it. In either case, and it may be some of both, beating A/B blitzes DEMANDS better sight adjustments by the TE than we saw this past season.

Back to your comment Joe, the Rams overplayed the run very well yesterday, especially in the first half. It seems all the 49ers can, or want to do, is run up the middle, stick-a-foot-in-the-ground and cut. The need to develop a wide game that will allow them to get outside this constant clogging of the middle of the field. The only time they tried that yesterday Davis failed to block the DE and Gore never had a chance. After that, Raye never called it again. It should have been there with all the overloading the Rams were doing in the middle but there seemed no recognition on the part of Raye to that tactic.

Part play calling, part blocking, part route adjustments, part QB vision. All contribute.

Thanks for the well informed post. That's alot of work by you