Who's Most Responsible for Our Success (recent)?

33% for Mike Johnson's evolving schemes

33% for Lady Luck's turnover protection

33% for Troy's agility to evade and good arm

1% for Andy Lee's beautiful punts
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Let's face it... right now, the M.J. and Troy combo has opposing defenses on the ropes and unsure of what is to come. We have been working with a limited and pretty new, evolving playbook. This alone can be a great advantage for us in the short-term, as defenses just don't know what to expect in terms of the alignments and formations we show. Working great for us now, but for how long? At what point does the creativity run out and defenses finally key in on how to stop us? Can we keep it up long enough for Troy to finish his training as a Jedi Master? Or will his training be cut short and he be eventually slayed by the Sith hoard?

There were a couple of games we barely lost. I think if Troy was at the helm, we could add at least two more wins to the "W" column.

Anthony Davis, he gave way to Alex Smith getting hurt.

Originally posted by oldman9er:
33% for Mike Johnson's evolving schemes

33% for Lady Luck's turnover protection

33% for Troy's agility to evade and good arm

1% for Andy Lee's beautiful punts
_______________________________________

Let's face it... right now, the M.J. and Troy combo has opposing defenses on the ropes and unsure of what is to come. We have been working with a limited and pretty new, evolving playbook. This alone can be a great advantage for us in the short-term, as defenses just don't know what to expect in terms of the alignments and formations we show. Working great for us now, but for how long? At what point does the creativity run out and defenses finally key in on how to stop us? Can we keep it up long enough for Troy to finish his training as a Jedi Master? Or will his training be cut short and he be eventually slayed by the Sith hoard?

Geek .....I especially agree with the pivotal point in your post. Can we keep it up is the big question. I think the moment the creativity runs out is exactly the moment defenses zero in. This isn't a OC and QB problem in my opinion because as I see it, Troy looks like he's a sponge and these 2 are just scratching the surface of what they can accomplish. It's our good buddy Mike the Mule's job to reconcile his fear of time travel and join the rest of us in the now. My new T-shirt will say "less cowbell, more space donkey".

I think I'm more worried about teams targeting the right side of our line with stunts, twists and all manner of edge and B gap blitzes, trying to disrupt our passing game. If it's me, the very least I want to do is get hands in the passing lanes or flush Smith left and force him to make throws across his body because he's already beginning to look comfortable back there...maybe even a little too comfortable sometimes. If it's a choice between 5-8 yard scrambles or 30 yard bombs; I'm conceding the runs and looking to get a big lick on Smith every time he bolts.

[ Edited by NatralBrnThrila on Nov 17, 2010 at 07:30:37 ]

as much as I have criticize coach sing, he is responsible for the little success we are having, in the end he bring coach johnson and troy here, when they were basically out of the league... he show he can has a good eye for talent and if we pull this off he should deserve all the credit....

I'd say it's part Mike Johnson, part Troy Smith. MJ's getting better each week calling plays...now he has a QB who can execute his offense better. Now, I'm more concerned about our defense than I am the offense. They need to step up their play to match the O.

Originally posted by servegmo:
as much as I have criticize coach sing, he is responsible for the little success we are having, in the end he bring coach johnson and troy here, when they were basically out of the league... he show he can has a good eye for talent and if we pull this off he should deserve all the credit....

What? The guy stuck with Alex Smith till he got hurt then replaced him with David Carr first.

Originally posted by Tigerlaw:

Originally posted by GhostofFredDean74:
So you expect us to go from 1-6 and losing to a team with no wins (CAR), to "dominating," before you give someone a little credit?

Luck has definitely played a part in the last two wins (as it does in many wins), but if you can't see the skill in Troy Smith's passes/scrambling/playmaking ability and the tweaks made by OC Mike Johnson as major factors in the last 2 wins, you just don't know football.

Thanks for the personal attack GOFD.

I don't give credit to people for being lucky.

T.Smith has been a breath of fresh air at the QB position. He has pocket awareness and gives the WRs a chance to make a play. He has had an above average QB performance and I am happy for that, but we were STILL in position to lose both those games if luck went the other way.

You can give T.Smith credit for being lucky by calling him a "playmaker" but I am willing to bet he can't reproduce a hail mary pass to Walker, convert 3rd and 32 then 4th and 18 or chuck a desperation pass to get us P.I. and a spot in FG range next time it comes around. I love the gunslinger attitude though. That is the thing that ticked me off the most about A.Smith.

OC Johnson has been a vast improvement since he took over for Raye. He hasn't flipped a switch in the last 2 wins only. The misdirection with Iupati that was being gushed over by the announcers during the game wasn't actually new. We ran that before.

We won the Raider game and should have won the CAR game but Singletary's ineptitude came into play with our QB injury/backup QB situation.

IMO the difference now is lady luck isn't crapping all over us.

T. Smith is a joy to watch when things are going right but if you can't see the luck involved in his game and success up to this point you are simply being a blind homer.

Both of our wins came down to the wire. Even with his improved QB play. The luck factor is removed when you start winning by 2 scores.

So yes...if I had to give credit to 1 thing as being most responsible for these last 2 wins I would say luck is #1. T.Smith is #2.

good players create their own luck. those " lucky" plays dont happen with the other two qb's, they wouldn't even get those passes off. Troy is making plays and not turning the ball over, your "luck"=playmaking. he will throw a pick eventually, it happens, but credit Troy#1,OC#2 or vice versa.

Originally posted by unst4bl3:
The success is all coming from Mike Johnson, I think even Alex would have led us to our last two wins, in fact if he hadn't got injured we would be on a 4 game winning streak. (would have beat the panthers)

I'm inclined to agree with this, but we'll never know for sure. What I do know is that T Smith is our starter and I'll be rooting for him like I did Alex.

The schedule. This is still the same undisciplined, poorly coached team, that has shown those qualities all season. It is a JOKE that they played as sloppy as they did coming out of a bye. That game showcased what kind of talent this team has to play as poorly as they did and win, but still.

Originally posted by FL9er:
The schedule. This is still the same undisciplined, poorly coached team, that has shown those qualities all season. It is a JOKE that they played as sloppy as they did coming out of a bye. That game showcased what kind of talent this team has to play as poorly as they did and win, but still.

Poorly in what regard?

The 421 total yards? The four consecutive three and out stops by the defense in the 4th Quarter? The three and out in overtime that led to the winning field goal possession?

If all you're looking at is the negatives (penalties, third down conversions) and not the positives, football may not be the sport for you.

Originally posted by JeuSF49:
Johnson has done a nice job with teh offence. troy mith is just more agressive with the pass, The plays are probably the same, yet Alex was afraid to throw it deep, becuase Sing would have ripped him, and was afraid ( can´t blame him ) to get hit hard.

I could imagine that if Alex would still be the starter Johnosn would go with a more spread type offence, we´ve seen it last year in that type of offence Alex is very effective.

While there are some plays that are the same, there is also a lot of new stuff as well. There are a lot of sets that had not been used, or used very sparingly. There are numerous plays that we did not see at all under Raye - for example the misdirection pitch sweep to Gore is entirely new. Johnson is also using a LOT more deep routes than Raye ever ran.

Sing has obviously signed off on this stuff so he gets some credit as well but it all starts with Mike Johnson. Though we all hate Alex now even he was showing immediate improvement in play as soon as Johnson took over. The perception of Troy is much greater as the strength of the opponent drops off. I have no illusions that Troy would have had the same success against the vastly superior secondaries we faced earlier in the year.

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:

Originally posted by Gore_21:
Play calling has been better
Troy Smith not turning the ball over
Been getting lucky (especially Troy Smith on the fumbles/passes thrown up_
Didn't beat ourselves in the Broncos game, did our best to in the Rams game though
Nobody else is turning the ball over... wrs/rbs, etc
We have played easier opponents

I'd say it's all of those. The lucky part is a big part. Troy has thrown several up for grabs and fumbled on sacks too. He just hasn't been bit by it yet. The thrown up for grabs ones come down as receptions. And the fumbles get recovered by us. But it won't go on like that forever.

Sound words of advice for the future.

Originally posted by Tigerlaw:
Lady Luck is the reason for our success

A hail mary type pass to Walker v. Denver

Converting 4th and 18 to stay alive at home v. Rams

Those are not high success type plays

I'm enjoying the ride and it is always better to be lucky than good....but we aren't dominating people so I honestly have no idea if we can keep winning

4th and 18 doesn't happen if there aren't boneheaded penalties. The game is already over at that point if there aren't boneheaded penalties.

Originally posted by gage:

Originally posted by Tigerlaw:
Lady Luck is the reason for our success

A hail mary type pass to Walker v. Denver

Converting 4th and 18 to stay alive at home v. Rams

Those are not high success type plays

I'm enjoying the ride and it is always better to be lucky than good....but we aren't dominating people so I honestly have no idea if we can keep winning

4th and 18 doesn't happen if there aren't boneheaded penalties. The game is already over at that point if there aren't boneheaded penalties.

Actually, it was the combination of a Joe Staley hold and a Michael Lewis sack.