Preseason week 1: The Good; The Ugly; The Same Old from Last Year

I'm glad NO's D played the way they did.

The Good:
Alex smith looked so bad, with no touch, that he might play himself out of 1st string qb
Aldon looked good
Brooks had great pressure (need him, since last year's injury slowed him)
J Smith looked good as always

Bad:
O line- Anthony Davis still can't handle speed rushers, and never will be able too.
Dixon looked bad not following iupati on the Screen, danced and lost yards

Last nights embarrassment was the best thing that could of happen to this team, book it!

The good:

I never was a big Brooks fan, but the dude was beastly last night. He and Aldon will terrorize QBs for years to come.

Our run D looks stout as ever and our backfield actually looks improved. Remember, these guys are learning a new D too and were up against a very seasoned Saints team.

Whitner is going to ball out! That defended pass he had in the begining of the game was something none of our safteys would of made in the past.

Our run plays are so much better this year. A ton of misdirections and motion to cause confusion. They really allow Gore to work in some space. I expect him to have a most year, if healthy.


The Bad: f**k you I'm a fan! Go Niners....

Originally posted by oldman9er:
We better fu*king HOPE that this isn't what happened.... because this would suggest we knew they would bring it and we simply had no answer.

I tell you what... preseason game 1 or not, I am worried... we can't be totally clueless like this again. This was Mike Nolan pass pro out there last night.

im pretty sure if this was a regular season game

harbaugh would have just went to the shotgun and spread them out, he isnt stupid. They would have countered, they didnt on purpose. This whole TC, I've been hearing defensive players say the offense is like night and day from last year with new formations

Saw the same old stuff yesterday, 49ers playing vanilla

Originally posted by Travisty13:

Originally posted by PatrickWillisHOF:
Alex Smith went 2 for 7, for 10 yards. I was expecting more from a 7 YEAR VETERAN!

I know and that guy on the other team..... what was his name.......oh yeah....Drew Brees or whatever he was only 1/4 for 6 yards from an 11 YEAR VETERAN! Poor Saints are going to have a rough year with that guy as their qb......

LOL, did you not see the dime pass that meachem dropped for a td? I guess that was brees fault too?!?!? Or were you too busy watching smith throw it in the dirt or behind wr's. Same s**t new season with alex

Originally posted by Oakland-Niner:
Last nights embarrassment was the best thing that could of happen to this team, book it!

yea, slap in the face reality check. I'm just glad Harbaugh didn't thank Payton afterwards or promise to see them in the playoffs.

It was the first game of the Preseason. Leave it at that. I will start to be worried if by game 4 they look the same. Then we can talk about how bad they are. Stop being so critical.

Originally posted by maximill15:

Originally posted by Travisty13:

Originally posted by PatrickWillisHOF:
Alex Smith went 2 for 7, for 10 yards. I was expecting more from a 7 YEAR VETERAN!

I know and that guy on the other team..... what was his name.......oh yeah....Drew Brees or whatever he was only 1/4 for 6 yards from an 11 YEAR VETERAN! Poor Saints are going to have a rough year with that guy as their qb......

LOL, did you not see the dime pass that meachem dropped for a td? I guess that was brees fault too?!?!? Or were you too busy watching smith throw it in the dirt or behind wr's. Same s**t new season with alex

I am guessing you didnt watch the game ... And if you did you do not understand anything about the QB position or how an offense operates successfully ... You see its quiet simple really, if you have no time to throw the ball you can not make quick enough adjustments, because you are rushed and that is what causes him to throw the ball behind and low .... if he has time he generally plays well ... just because you have blind hate for Alex doesnt mean you can just be blind to the fact that the OLine did nothing to block anyone ... I mean i read these posts about Alex this and Alex that and all of these arm chair QBs who sit back and say he sucks and he shouldve just done this or thrown it here or there ... How many of you have even played QB??? Do you even know what it takes to move in the pocket or to have 3-4 people in your face as you throw??? More then likely you do not ... you sit there and ignore the fact that he had A) NO TIME TO THROW THE BALL and B) HE HAS HAD 5 F**KING PRACTICES WITH HIS OFFENSE ... My God People .... Step back off the ledge

Agree that this is the best thing that could have happened and gives Harbaugh a lot to work on. He was not trying to win the game last night, so why would he make adjustments to the D? He wanted to see how the players adjusted in the same set, not take them out of their planned game just because the D was blitzing.

The team is in walk through mode and played a very good team that was much further along. The OLine looked like it was confused and bewildered, often just standing and letting players rush by. So, what do you expect? Young line learning a new system and trying to think about what they were doing rather than just doing it. Even Staley has to learn this new offense, so he made a few errors.

The good news is that there will be players cut from other teams who might help and there are already vets who may be able to step in and take over at RG and RT if necessary. Are Snyder and Wragge better than Rachal and Davis? They are vets and would no doubt help with their experience but I would only replace one position at this time to see if Davis could be helped by an experienced teammate.

The one bad thing was the risk of getting both QBs killed! Yikes!

Originally posted by NCommand:

Good write-up.

I particularly agree with your point about this game providing definitive direction as to what needs to be done with the OL. The confusion over who was to pick up blitzers was predictable given all the time factors that have been well discussed. What was not expected was the poor technique in pass protection. All seemed to have the same fault - just not low enough and losing leverage. The problem was SO obvious that we can be certain Solari/Drevno will be on it first thing next practice.

I'm not surprised or disappointed. PS games are supposed to help identify areas of need. This one showed that the greatest weakness of this team is in pass protection. Other areas were relatively minor concerns.

Gotta love the nfl network preseason package. We can really go back and easily review a play multiple times. It has a 10sec rewind and a 10second fast forward, it allows you to continuously review a play looking at all the angles. great stuff. Review the two worse hits on smith I noticed a few things.

The first play was a 3rd and 7 and after it's conclusion, Staley was livid with Iupati. The defense disguised their cover 4 as a cover 2 with bump n run. When the play starts you see the front 6 and the NCB come on an all out blitz. Iupati blocks down on the DT where he should have picked up the RDE. Staley was putting a chip on the RDE and then went to pick up the NCB. Unfortunately Iupati did not hear or missed the pass off and the RDE came barreling in on smith and got to him as he reached his 3 step drop. The DB where all a few yards pass the first down marker waiting on the receivers whom all were running skinny posts. Given time and the pass being accurate the play would have resulted in an easy first down. That defensive front was well disguised and not a basic vanilla preseason blitz.

The second play I wont go into great detail into, The niners where in a 22 formation, if I remember correctly that means two rb two te and 1 wr. The saints bring 7 on the blitz including the a Saftey. Smith runs a play action and a 5 step drop and once again is demolished as he reaches his drop point.

Both plays smith was decked as he reached his drop point, disgusting oline play.

IF you want contrast go watch some of the TB oline. Freeman is able to sit back there for ever and read and react.

A. Davis played horrible, same old

Originally posted by CrownJP:
I am guessing you didnt watch the game ... And if you did you do not understand anything about the QB position or how an offense operates successfully ... You see its quiet simple really, if you have no time to throw the ball you can not make quick enough adjustments, because you are rushed and that is what causes him to throw the ball behind and low .... if he has time he generally plays well ... just because you have blind hate for Alex doesnt mean you can just be blind to the fact that the OLine did nothing to block anyone ... I mean i read these posts about Alex this and Alex that and all of these arm chair QBs who sit back and say he sucks and he shouldve just done this or thrown it here or there ... How many of you have even played QB??? Do you even know what it takes to move in the pocket or to have 3-4 people in your face as you throw??? More then likely you do not ... you sit there and ignore the fact that he had A) NO TIME TO THROW THE BALL and B) HE HAS HAD 5 F**KING PRACTICES WITH HIS OFFENSE ... My God People .... Step back off the ledge

Yeah you are right I didn't watch the game... I didn't fault smith for being hit/ sacked did I? No! That was VD blowing assignments and Anthony Davis not being able to handle speed rushers. Oline looked terrible, and they were unprepared but that doesnt change the fact when smith had time (and he did on 5 or so plays) he looked terrible! Theres always an excuse for smith, but THE FACT IS, HE ISNT ACCURATE! Pass to VD, ball at his feet (incomplete), Pass to Edwards, behind him (incomplete) Pass to either Walker or VD (not near anyone, but that was prob walkers fault). Good qb's are pressured too, but they remain calm and step up and still get off an accurate pass, smith can't do it. Point remains smith has no pocket presence, no accuracy, and once he gets flustered he has no composure.

Originally posted by fly15:
A. Davis played horrible, same old

Was very disturbing to see him with an obvious false start (not called), and STILL give up the outside rush.

Originally posted by maximill15:

Originally posted by CrownJP:
I am guessing you didnt watch the game ... And if you did you do not understand anything about the QB position or how an offense operates successfully ... You see its quiet simple really, if you have no time to throw the ball you can not make quick enough adjustments, because you are rushed and that is what causes him to throw the ball behind and low .... if he has time he generally plays well ... just because you have blind hate for Alex doesnt mean you can just be blind to the fact that the OLine did nothing to block anyone ... I mean i read these posts about Alex this and Alex that and all of these arm chair QBs who sit back and say he sucks and he shouldve just done this or thrown it here or there ... How many of you have even played QB??? Do you even know what it takes to move in the pocket or to have 3-4 people in your face as you throw??? More then likely you do not ... you sit there and ignore the fact that he had A) NO TIME TO THROW THE BALL and B) HE HAS HAD 5 F**KING PRACTICES WITH HIS OFFENSE ... My God People .... Step back off the ledge

Yeah you are right I didn't watch the game... I didn't fault smith for being hit/ sacked did I? No! That was VD blowing assignments and Anthony Davis not being able to handle speed rushers. Oline looked terrible, and they were unprepared but that doesnt change the fact when smith had time (and he did on 5 or so plays) he looked terrible! Theres always an excuse for smith, but THE FACT IS, HE ISNT ACCURATE! Pass to VD, ball at his feet (incomplete), Pass to Edwards, behind him (incomplete) Pass to either Walker or VD (not near anyone, but that was prob walkers fault). Good qb's are pressured too, but they remain calm and step up and still get off an accurate pass, smith can't do it. Point remains smith has no pocket presence, no accuracy, and once he gets flustered he has no composure.

As I recall, Alex was at fault for 2 passes. One of the first passes that fell low to VD (and VD was even motioning for Alex to put it a lil higher) and the Braylon Edwards slant that was behind him (one of if not his last pass attempt). Everything else was on the OL, IMHO.