***SF 49ERS VS. OAK RAIDERS GAMEDAY THREAD (Preseason Week 2)***

Smith had a solid game. Some outlets didn't watch the game - that much is clear. He would have had a better game if his receivers weren't dropping balls at a ridiculous clip. that worries me more than anything Smith did. It has been a constant problem for the last few years, and needs to be fixed. It is nice to have a guy who can make a spectacular catch, and is a big threat out there (Braylon) for once. I was a little bit surprised that Harbaugh was so conservative in the red zone. Calling a pass play with Josh Morgan and Tedd Ginn was just poor. You need big targets down there, and putting in Braylon will open things up for Davis and Walker.

I'm posted this in the game day thread . . .

This is what I saw . .

1st Drive
1st pass: 5 yard Come back on target, Walker looses his footing so the pass looked high, bounced off Walkers hands. (Dropped) (0-1)
2nd pass: Perfectly spotted 10 yard out to Vernon, 14 yard gain - 1st down. (1-2)
3rd pass: Five yard hitch to Ginn - on target, 6 yard gain (2-3)
4th pass: Ten yard in to Edwards, slightly high but Edwards was bringing it in before the DB knocked the ball loose.(Dropped) (2-4)
5th pass: Ten yard hitch to Edwards, on target, 14 yard gain - 1st down (3-5)

Ended the drive 3-5 / 34 yards Should have been 5-5 / 50+ yards


2nd Drive
1st pass: Roll right, nothing open, short out to Morgan, on target, (Dropped) (3-6)
2nd pass:Under pressure, delivered to Morgan between the numbers on a crossing route, 33 yards (4-7)
3rd pass: Short out to Davis, on target, 5 yards (5-8)
4th pass: Pick to Shaughnessy (5-9) Didn't see the DE drop into the flat.

5-9 - 73 yards.


3rd Drive
1st pass: Checks down to the 3rd read, moves in the pocket, on target to Morgan for 8 yards (6-10)
2nd pass: 15 yard out to Reuland, on target (7-11)
3rd pass: Sideline go route to Edwards, 32 yards, on target, nicely located (8-12)
4th pass: Nothing open, throws it away. (8-13)

Smith finished 8 -13 - 126 yards


But for three drops he could have easily been 11-13 - 140+ yards.

Hopefully next week Harbaugh opens things up in the red zone a little.

But for the pick he had a very solid game. He needs to back it up with another one against the Texans.

Good writeup

Originally posted by dtcomposer:
Smith had a solid game. Some outlets didn't watch the game - that much is clear. He would have had a better game if his receivers weren't dropping balls at a ridiculous clip. that worries me more than anything Smith did. It has been a constant problem for the last few years, and needs to be fixed. It is nice to have a guy who can make a spectacular catch, and is a big threat out there (Braylon) for once. I was a little bit surprised that Harbaugh was so conservative in the red zone. Calling a pass play with Josh Morgan and Tedd Ginn was just poor. You need big targets down there, and putting in Braylon will open things up for Davis and Walker.

Harbaugh is just playing it close to the vest. During the season, I expect to see a lot of corner fade/back shoulder options to Braylon in the red zone. Alex reads coverage and throws to where Braylon has leverage. With his ability to go up for he ball, "if done correctly, no can defense."

Originally posted by qnnhan7:
It's only one good preseason, but it's been a while since I've seen our offense played with a crispness, and guys look like they know where exactly they are going on the field.

if we could continue to trend in this way each game, we will be in good shape for the regular season, its exciting to me how our offense was pretty much night and day from game 1

Originally posted by mug0mug:
I don't know for certain, but I looked at an airing listing of the Oakland and Niners feeds and the NFL replay was under the Niner feed list.

Plus it was a homegame and national airings of games generally have the home crew announcing.

I think they usually show one side for the first half and then switch.

I watched the Raiders also (got lucky picking up KTLA all the way in Toronto) and man that was painful. Heard them say the Raiders are "a very good football team" over and over.

i couldn't take it so i just sync up the knbr broadcast to the game and called it a day.

I watched the game too. Once Smith got into a flow, he did not struggle at all. Granted, he did throw an INT that initially looked bad, but on the reply you can see that the Raiders deserved some kudos because they really disguised their coverage well and that DE dropped back at the last second to make the grab. Aside from that throw, Smith looked very good. He threw a couple passes slightly high, but well within reach of the receivers hands (at least two of these high passes were dropped).

For NFL.com to say that Smith struggled is just them looking at the stat line and going with what they assume. Smith looked strong, and much of the credit should really go to the OL, because he did have some nice pockets to throw from and generally had his 3-4 second window to find his receivers. Overall, very good showing (and I can now say I am excited to see Edwards and Crabs on the field at the same time - we haven't had a big, fast receiver with hands since TO, and Edwards completely looked the part last night).

Thankfully, I only have to listen to these clowns once a year (Oakland feed in L.A. is picked up in North County San Diego), and that is one time too many. Is it possible to put more buffoons on a broadcast team (Papas, Flores, Plunkett, Atkinson (i.e. Parkinson) and J.T. "I Just S**T a Brick")? I can forgive them for being complete "homers" for the Silver & Black, but they don't even acknowledge the opposition when they make plays. And I'm pretty sure that Flores is well medicated during game time. Plunkett stumbles over every word and is the master of the obvious. Atkinson is actually more sad than annoying. They make Papas look good and he's about 3rd or 4th teir on the broadcast food chain. I've learned to appreciate KNBR a great deal more.

I can't believe I'm about to defend Alex Smith! Anyway I was at the game last night and I thought he played well. Besides the interception I thought he displayed better footwork and I liked how he hung in the in the pocket and made nice throws. Very solid in my opinion.

Originally posted by hofer36:
they open with a pregame guy, jt the brick--shouldnt a guy have a real name to be doing the nfl...he tried to suggest that the stadium was filled with raiders fans

later there were sideline interviews during game by george atkinson, who seemed like he might be drunk--of course the interviews usually interruped flow of game , mostly with niners having ball

the game announcers were such homers,..flores and plunkett have some insight but greg papa is such a homer---on one call seymour got penetration but couldnt wrap up dixon, who got a short run for 1st down...papa was convinced that the runner was dropped for a l;oss, despite visual evidence to the contrary--he started talking like the refs were screwing the raiders ...later they talked about how the raiders "technically" lost last week then put a spin on it to make it seem like a win

Glad I am not the only one annoyed by the broadcast. They kept emphasizing the fact that the niners did not score against the Raiders first defense, and kept praising the Raider defense for their "bend but not break" performance. Every time they mentioned Hue Jackson, they showed his interview when he was hired and about 2 minutes worth of highlights from last season. Felt like a Raiders informercial instead of a game broadcast.

Was reading my local paper here in NO, and the write-up on Alex was also very negative. Just talked about how he threw a pick and couldn't get the team in the endzone. This sure didn't sound right to me from what I saw of the game and read on here. Alex just has such a bad image to those that don't pay close attention.

Thanks, SonocoNinerFan, for the play by play! I wonder why Smith seemed to be completely accurate? Isn't that one of the criticisms people have used to blame him for losses? I saw very few passes that were uncatchable. The redzone calls were frustrating because that is where Smith excels and, even though I understand Harbaugh wanting to use vanilla, it would have been nice to see some success there.

This was a good game for Smith and the DE Int will be very instructive. His looking off and reading progressions is very welcome but we still don't know how well he can use his peripheral vision to see the D dropping into coverage. QBs with really great vision learn to see not just what's in front of them but what is going on at the edge of their vision. Kind of like speed reading when you see the whole paragraph at a time. This is also important for feeling pressure as it often comes from good vision to the sides.

Basketball players like Magic and Bird often threw passes to players behind them or off to a side because of their vision. I hope Smith has this capability. It is something that can be taught and improved as a player grows.

like, oh em geeah

last week there was a headline "Kolb leads Cardinals in victory over Raiders"...and Kolb led the team to exactly zero points.

Its all about perception. The media perception is that Kolb is a badass and that Smith sucks, so no matter what the reality is, that's the story you are going to get.