What has changed?

So, I finally got a chance to watch the second preseason game. And I was left with an odd feeling of familiarity.

Sure, we looked a lot better than last week. But we usually beat up on the Raiders. That way, and otherwise, it all seemed like deja vu.

QB Play:

Alex looked solid, but far from elite and moved the chains without putting points on the board and threw a critical pick when he misread the D.

Beyond Alex, we have nothing we can bank on in case of injury or poor performance. CK showed flashes, but he's a rookie and as much hope as we have for him, there is no telling what his future holds. After that, we have a journeyman from the UFL. Bottom line, we haven't brought in proven QB talent that would even be a backup for most teams since Jeff Garcia left. Just draft picks (high and low) and career backups and wanna bes who have never given us either starter quality talent or even solid depth.

Even the Raiders have Boller and Edwards as legit backups, and they both are arguably better than most, if not every QB that has been on our roster since Garcia.

RB/Oline Play: Gore is Gore. Otherwise some young guns who are preseason studs and we'll see from there. Oline, solid at run blocking, still making mistakes on pass protection.

Defense: Solid, but still limited QB pressure. Didn't really miss any of the guys we let go, but didn't exactly see anyone show they will elevate the D to what it's been the last couple of years.

Coaching: Still trying to pound the ball into the endzone anytime we are inside the 10 with a ex-player who is a rah rah, intense guy with no NFL Head Coaching experience. Do I think he will be better than Sing? I do, and I am hopeful for the future. But given his mentality and the way he responds to the media, I think he will have some growing pains that will be very similar. He has had success at the college level, but I think Sing could have motivated college kids had he started at a small school and then moved to a better school who hadn't had recent football success as well. Whether that player/coach mentality translates into success at the NFL is TBD.


Overall, I just don't see anything too different from years past. That combined with our schedule has us at the same place we've been for years. 6-10 if a few games go wrong, 8-8, MAYBE, just MAYBE 9-7, if every close game goes our way. Bottom line, we are pretty much a .500 team and a game or two will determine the difference.

Until we can get high level QB play and pressure the QB consistently, two things this team seems unwilling to upgrade, I don't see how things will change.

Anyone see anything different.

I saw a lot different, the defense is still looking 30x more solid than last year's team, the new players on D are playmakers, we didnt have that before.

On offense Alex looks confident and dare I say he threw in a pinch of accuracy last game?

things that stayed the same.

Goldson still sucks.
Keaton Kristick still has his issues..
crabtree still isn't practicing..

JH has a sharpie hanging from his neck instead of a wooden cross. Change like that gives me some faith.

Originally posted by unst4bl3:
I saw a lot different, the defense is still looking 30x more solid than last year's team, the new players on D are playmakers, we didnt have that before.

On offense Alex looks confident and dare I say he threw in a pinch of accuracy last game?

things that stayed the same.

Goldson still sucks.
Keaton Kristick still has his issues..
crabtree still isn't practicing..

I agree with that. Thats what i saw too

Originally posted by TexasNiner:
So, I finally got a chance to watch the second preseason game. And I was left with an odd feeling of familiarity.

Sure, we looked a lot better than last week. But we usually beat up on the Raiders. That way, and otherwise, it all seemed like deja vu.

QB Play:

Alex looked solid, but far from elite and moved the chains without putting points on the board and threw a critical pick when he misread the D.

Beyond Alex, we have nothing we can bank on in case of injury or poor performance. CK showed flashes, but he's a rookie and as much hope as we have for him, there is no telling what his future holds. After that, we have a journeyman from the UFL. Bottom line, we haven't brought in proven QB talent that would even be a backup for most teams since Jeff Garcia left. Just draft picks (high and low) and career backups and wanna bes who have never given us either starter quality talent or even solid depth.

Even the Raiders have Boller and Edwards as legit backups, and they both are arguably better than most, if not every QB that has been on our roster since Garcia.

RB/Oline Play: Gore is Gore. Otherwise some young guns who are preseason studs and we'll see from there. Oline, solid at run blocking, still making mistakes on pass protection.

Defense: Solid, but still limited QB pressure. Didn't really miss any of the guys we let go, but didn't exactly see anyone show they will elevate the D to what it's been the last couple of years.

Coaching: Still trying to pound the ball into the endzone anytime we are inside the 10 with a ex-player who is a rah rah, intense guy with no NFL Head Coaching experience. Do I think he will be better than Sing? I do, and I am hopeful for the future. But given his mentality and the way he responds to the media, I think he will have some growing pains that will be very similar. He has had success at the college level, but I think Sing could have motivated college kids had he started at a small school and then moved to a better school who hadn't had recent football success as well. Whether that player/coach mentality translates into success at the NFL is TBD.


Overall, I just don't see anything too different from years past. That combined with our schedule has us at the same place we've been for years. 6-10 if a few games go wrong, 8-8, MAYBE, just MAYBE 9-7, if every close game goes our way. Bottom line, we are pretty much a .500 team and a game or two will determine the difference.

Until we can get high level QB play and pressure the QB consistently, two things this team seems unwilling to upgrade, I don't see how things will change.

Anyone see anything different.

I had faith in your post until I read that part. then didnt read lol

I saw cut blocks, I saw zone blocks, I saw trap blocks, I may have even seen a counter trey!
Woohoohooooot!

Originally posted by 12b6demurrer:
I had faith in your post until I read that part. then didnt read lol

lol...

Raiders have Pryor as their "backUp" for now... till they put him at WR.

Alex's footwork, fundamentals, and the ability to go through his reads seem much improved. I understand your lack of enthusiasm; after all, we beat the Raiders consistently and we didn't have any scoring drives (TDs) with our #1 offense.

But there are a few areas that I saw that were different this year than at any point of Alex's career. First off, Braylon Edwards in limited reps seems to be the best WR he's ever played with. The offensive line still wasn't perfect, but looked much improved from one week to the next. And I would say most importantly, I'm sure Harbaugh wasn't putting together a legit gameplan out there. We won't try running with Anthony Dixon 5 out of 6 plays from the 2 yard line.

But your overall assessment of this team in terms of where they will end the season (6-10 to 9-7 depending on specific game circumstances) seems pretty accurate.

Originally posted by TexasNiner:
So, I finally got a chance to watch the second preseason game. And I was left with an odd feeling of familiarity.

Sure, we looked a lot better than last week. But we usually beat up on the Raiders. That way, and otherwise, it all seemed like deja vu.

QB Play:

Alex looked solid, but far from elite and moved the chains without putting points on the board and threw a critical pick when he misread the D.

Beyond Alex, we have nothing we can bank on in case of injury or poor performance. CK showed flashes, but he's a rookie and as much hope as we have for him, there is no telling what his future holds. After that, we have a journeyman from the UFL. Bottom line, we haven't brought in proven QB talent that would even be a backup for most teams since Jeff Garcia left. Just draft picks (high and low) and career backups and wanna bes who have never given us either starter quality talent or even solid depth.

Even the Raiders have Boller and Edwards as legit backups, and they both are arguably better than most, if not every QB that has been on our roster since Garcia.

RB/Oline Play: Gore is Gore. Otherwise some young guns who are preseason studs and we'll see from there. Oline, solid at run blocking, still making mistakes on pass protection.

Defense: Solid, but still limited QB pressure. Didn't really miss any of the guys we let go, but didn't exactly see anyone show they will elevate the D to what it's been the last couple of years.

Coaching: Still trying to pound the ball into the endzone anytime we are inside the 10 with a ex-player who is a rah rah, intense guy with no NFL Head Coaching experience. Do I think he will be better than Sing? I do, and I am hopeful for the future. But given his mentality and the way he responds to the media, I think he will have some growing pains that will be very similar. He has had success at the college level, but I think Sing could have motivated college kids had he started at a small school and then moved to a better school who hadn't had recent football success as well. Whether that player/coach mentality translates into success at the NFL is TBD.


Overall, I just don't see anything too different from years past. That combined with our schedule has us at the same place we've been for years. 6-10 if a few games go wrong, 8-8, MAYBE, just MAYBE 9-7, if every close game goes our way. Bottom line, we are pretty much a .500 team and a game or two will determine the difference.

Until we can get high level QB play and pressure the QB consistently, two things this team seems unwilling to upgrade, I don't see how things will change.

Anyone see anything different.

The reason for the hightlighted part above is because it's pre-season. The coaches don't want to show they hand before the season starts. It's hard to tell how this team will do until regular reason starts.

The defense is completely different IMO. The personnel and the philosophy. They are certainly more aggressive and its only preseason.

In regards to play calling inside the 10 on offense. I didn't like the calls they made in the 1st half and they should have scored two TDs, but maybe they didn't want to show their redzone offense. I'm not saying that is the case because I honestly don't know, but I'm not going to jump to any conclusion in regards to playcalling during preseason.

I understand your concerns at QB, but drafting CK in the 2nd round and moving up at that, shows me that the front office and probably Harbaugh are not satisfied with the QB situation. Also, Hasselback himself even came out and said he was considering the Niners, so they obviously are working on that. Before we went after backups, so I agree with that, but at least we see them going after guys and attempting to upgrade.

In regards to Harbaugh being a "rah rah" college type. Harbaugh played in the NFL a decade ago. Not much has changed and he has to be able to understand an NFL lockerroom, so I'm not really worried about that. This isnt Steve Spurrier where he had been so far removed that he had no idea what he was getting into. Also, Harbaugh's head coaching experience speaks for itself and comparing him to Singletary in that respect is pretty pointless because he had zero head coaching or even coordinating experience.

I understand where you are coming from and you might end up being right, but I will wait til the regular season to evaluate more.

keep your dicks in your pants. 2nd preseason game against the raiders. When we take two steps back this coming week against Houston, I don't wanna see any of you standing on a ledge.

I think you are reading way too much into one preseason game. There will be some mistakes to be corrected, but overall do the players look like they know what they are doing out there? Were they able to make plays. If the answer is 'yes' then be content that the coaches will try to improve the team in the next game. Because the coaches will rarely show what the offense or defense can really do in a preseason game. It's a chance to see where they are in regards to players, positions, and groups( offense , defense, sp team). That's my take on the preseason.

It was Alex and his ability to actually lead the offense. And by lead I mean he was making the throws before players were even breaking, he was looking through his progressions, and he was reading what the defenses gave him(perhaps a little too much). I noticed a bunch of different 2 TE formations. Having D. Walker go in motion and play FB. The blocking schemes were different, the tackles were getting out and making blocks. Alex showed a tremendous amount of trust with his recievers and they were running proper routes. To me the whole thing just looked organized. It looked like an actual system and looked like players understood where they needed to be. Alex trusted his line, he trusted his recievers, and we moved the ball.

Originally posted by JiksJuicy:
It was Alex and his ability to actually lead the offense. And by lead I mean he was making the throws before players were even breaking, he was looking through his progressions, and he was reading what the defenses gave him(perhaps a little too much). I noticed a bunch of different 2 TE formations. Having D. Walker go in motion and play FB. The blocking schemes were different, the tackles were getting out and making blocks. Alex showed a tremendous amount of trust with his recievers and they were running proper routes. To me the whole thing just looked organized. It looked like an actual system and looked like players understood where they needed to be. Alex trusted his line, he trusted his recievers, and we moved the ball.

I'm glad alex threw that INT, he is going to see a lot of lb's and others dropping into coverage against WCO routes. It'll be a learning experience.

I will revisit this thread after Week 1's game.