The 8-Man Box

Originally posted by SolRebe1:
I like to eat box.

ha ha its funny cuz its true

IF bigmike's game plan is the same for the season that it was for preseason, then bring on the box8...or 9 for that matter. But if MS even remotely slides back to his and JRs playcalling of last yr, we are no better than 8-8, if that. To be frank, bigmike can be a hero this yr, playing to win. But if he gets conservative, and plays not to lose...then he, and the 49ers, and of course, the fans...all lose. I said shortly after he was hired, that he was just what this team needed to crawl off our backs. My concern when he was hired was the same as it is today, 3 days before our season starts. He has built a good team, has every chance to do well, but can scotch all of it with namby pamby play calling. Hell , everybody knows we will eat up a box 8 or 10, if alex just whips a pass over the D's heads with a one step or no step drop.

But if bigmike is gonna "run it down their throats", by game 3 we will see a coach with no further future in 49erland, because coaching not to lose is how he has coached to present. Will he change the overwhelming instinct he has to be conservative? Man i hope so, but if you see us running 3 consecutive times against a box 8, MS is done here. I'm hoping he finally gets it, but that would require giving alex some latitude, and no one knows what bigmike's thinking on that is. He is a good coach for rebuilding a broken team. In that he has succeeded. Can he now set aside his former cautiousness, and become one of the leading coaches in the nfl? Only bigmike can make that choice. i hope he reviews the preseason playcalling, and then chooses well.

Amen to that Pasodoc!

[ Edited by mebemused on Sep 9, 2010 at 01:11:29 ]

Originally posted by mebemused:
Last year, 8 in the box would enable run blitzes that allowed Gore occasionally to pop a big run, but also denied as many 3rd down conversions. We were something like 28th in the league on 3rd down conversions. And if it was a pass with a 5-7 step drop, we would have to leave Davis and Gore in to protect, which effectively took them out of the play.

In a pass-friendly league, all the playoff teams, used 3 WR sets and a TE extensively to spread the D out. From Pat Kirwan's article at NFL.com:

1. A quarterback with a strong arm who would much rather spread out his offense to expose what the defense is doing and identify the blitzers are right away. In surveying many quarterbacks this summer and asking them what protection scheme they preferred, five-man protections with five receivers in patterns won out.

As Aaron Rodgers said, "I'd rather see the blitzer and take care of him myself than leave a blocker in to pick him up."

Matt Ryan agreed and added, "Spreading out the offense gives some very good running opportunities as well."

No matter how much Singletary likes smash-mouth, he and Raye also understand what the successful teams are doing to win. Our spread formations in the last half of the season indicate that Raye is adaptable. And don't forget that once we went to the spread with 3 sec throws, instead of max protection, V Davis scored more TDs than any other TE.

So yes, Joe Cool is correct. We will see 8 men in the box, which is why we should spread them out.

I just hope we don't play into weaker teams strategies and do exactly what they hope which is to try to power their 8 in the box over to make for a close game that gives them a chance to steal a win in the end. Unless we are actually bowling them over. Either way, these games are more on the guy with the keys to make use of these weapons more than the weapons themselves. Let's hope Alex continues his play from preseason because teams will pressure him until he can beat them.

i hope they try it this year, we're gonna kill them through the air if they do

Pretty much agreed, Joecool, and good overall discussion in this thread. I have been thinking that teams will be stacking up on us until we make them pay for it in the air. It's what I'd do as a coach, and it's not even so much to test Alex as it is to test the OL pass protection. We're gonna need to go in and pass well to open up the run, I think. If we go in and try to pound it out on 1st and 2nd down, I fear that we will start out slow and ineffective... making that 12th man all the more a troublesome factor.

I dont know about you guys but I cant wait to see Alex Smith hook up with Ginn on a bomb or two this year ... I fully expect Vernon and Crabtree to have good years but I'm most excited to see Ginn and the speed that he brings to the team on offense. Just the threat of Ginn running a reverse would make defenses pay attention and perhaps free up Gore on some of those up the middle runs Raye is likely to call. Ginn and Juice will prove early in the year he's a threat and dimenish the 8-9 man boxes.

Originally posted by 49ersBest1:

On the other hand, Jimmy Raye's playbook and Singletary's philosphy of running the ball nearly every dam* play will tempt defenses to stack the box. Thank god they drafted Iupati in that case.

That's the biggest weakness in my opinion.

See Gore's history vs Seattle... if it ain't broke, dont try to fix it

I thought this thread was about a certain poster's mother. I am disappoint.

Originally posted by Joecool:
Expect to see 8 in the box. Put yourself in the opposition's shoes and tell me who concerns you more, Alex Smith being able to consistently get the ball to the weapons or Frank Gore behind an even more powerful line? Weapons are nothing in the NFL if there's no one to get them the ball.

As for weapons, if I'm Seattle, there's only one proven homerun threat and that's Vernon. Basically, make sure he doesn't beat you and contain Gore. Until Alex Smith proves he can be deadly, ain't no team moving away from 8 in the box. This entire thread has overlooked the key to our offense for the past six years now.

Alex had a great game passing against them last year up there.