"What's Changed?" - thru Game 4 of 2011

Originally posted by Joecool:

Originally posted by Blitz:

For the first time in as long as I can remember, I saw them starting to "put it all together", a huge change. There are three phases plus coaching, that makes 4 phases of the game. I saw a team finally starting to work together. I saw all these things occurring in the same game:

1) Didn't see any stupidness. All 4 phases, everybody kept their heads screwed on straight....that's new.

2) Not only did all 4 phases not do "stupid does", they all 4 contributed...nobody stayed home and left it to somebody else, including the coaches...that's new too.

3) We won the TO battle, decisively....that's new, the consequence of one and two above.

4) Coaching made some savvy tactical moves along with some savvy strategic moves, taking advantage of Seattle's relative inexperience/youth. Examples:

a) Tactical: The tackle eligible/reset move to draw Seattle's d over the line, brilliant recognition of the moment and exploitation of it.

b) Strategic: Having Ginn return to one side just about all game long, then returning to the other side. They burned Earl Thomas with that one...he got out of his lane because of it and creeped over....and Ginn took it the other way.

5) Everybody was prepared..no meltdown.


These were the big changes I saw. In the future there will be bumps in the road and some regression at times...but it looks like they are laying a good foundation, built on fundamental football: No stupid s**t, all 4 phases show up and contribute, win the TO battle.

Great observation.

Great post, overall!

What changed?

We sure had a hell of a lot of penalties.
We actually got some kind of pressure/passrush.

Stayed the same.
That stupid power I running play used 20 times in the game.
Crabtree gonna crabtree.
Roman seems like he reviewed the Jimmy Raye gameplan, and liked it or something. (sure they were being conservative, but they could have been conservative and still imaginitive at the same time, like the rams were last year)

Originally posted by unst4bl3:

What changed?

We sure had a hell of a lot of penalties.We actually got some kind of pressure/passrush.

Stayed the same.
That stupid power I running play used 20 times in the game.
Crabtree gonna crabtree.
Roman seems like he reviewed the Jimmy Raye gameplan, and liked it or something. (sure they were being conservative, but they could have been conservative and still imaginitive at the same time, like the rams were last year)

We've had that problem in the past, especially in the Nolan years.
Now to Singletary's credit, he did instill discipline and brought down the penalty numbers during his interim coaching stint in 2008 (and one of the reasons he won the job outright).

Originally posted by Bluefalcon61:
We've had that problem in the past, especially in the Nolan years.
Now to Singletary's credit, he did instill discipline and brought down the penalty numbers during his interim coaching stint in 2008 (and one of the reasons he won the job outright).

We did have penalties last year, but mostly on the Oline. We had a lot of penalties all across the board yesterday. And wtf for a home game, we sure had the ReF's against us on some plays, it was almost like some of those road games that the refs helped us lose over the last 2 years.

Nothing has changed. We continue to rely on Gore on every single play, we dont use our recievers and i can see our offense finishing last this year

Originally posted by ace130:
Nothing has changed. We continue to rely on Gore on every single play, we dont use our recievers and i can see our offense finishing last this year

This. We just got lucky we didn't fumble a ball away.

I dont know why we drafted Crabtree and picked up Edwards if we never give them the ball

Couple of things I noticed about Alex (Keep in mind, I'm an Alex hater):

1. Footwork surprised me. To be honest? Smith looked comfortable back in that pocket
2. Never, EVER seen Smith consistently look off receivers like that. He did it all game long. Kept the SeaChickens guessing
3. No crucial mistakes out of Alex. Even when the game got tight, Alex didn't. That's another change
4. You wouldn't believe how badly I'd like to eat a steaming pile of crow about that kid.

Team wide?

1. New confidence. You could see it building throughout the game. Team unity was key for us down the stretch
2. With the exception of one long TD pass, the secondary didn't "blow it." In fact, they played well down the stretch. When is the last time that happened?
3. Offensive line blocking as average to good. Expect it to get better
4. Love that call where Harbaugh fooled the SeaChickens to jump offside on a crucial 3rd down play. When's the last time we did that? Oh yeah, under Walsh
5. The SeaChickens were outcoached. And Carroll is no slouch people. He's just not as cagey as Harbaugh

I really hope Harbaugh kept it simple due to confidence over SEA and would have showed a more complicated offense if we were playing a team like DAL. If he did, then that's some serious balls. I still think it is funny that he's getting so much credit for a conservative plan because our defense was playing well but Nolan and Singletary were never given any praise for a conservative plan when our defense is playing well.

Cant expect much to change if the players are the same.

Night and Day from the previous 4 coordinators. Offensive that is. Now you see Alex making audibles at the line. You never saw that before.

I think our special teams is actually special.

Coaching... OMG The Coaching!! This team was prepared from top to bottom... and it's about damn time. The coaching was 1000% better. They left little to chance. The whole staff must have been very thorough and totally involved in every aspect of the game. There was a fluidity during the whole game that was apparent. A loss here would have hurt... but it would have been because Carroll schemed better. Not because Harbaugh didn't know what to do after halftime to adjust... so he figured he would drop trow and try to motivate his boys into willing their way to a win.

Man what a relief... That Singletary regime had me extremely livid right after the first game last year... as I saw how horribly coached they were. I was actually more upset at how I was able to see how horrific the coaching was DURING THE FIRST DAMN GAME! as opposed to seeing a single or multiple Offensive or Defensive players being the main reason of a loss.

The Harbaugh Era is beginning exactly how I believed it would... conservative... no major screw-ups... preparedness... awareness... slowly easing Alex into the game. Slowing easing Alex into the game will ultimately build his confidence and help this team grow around him. I am probably going to catch some flack for saying this... but this is how Alex needs to be treated... As no other Head Coach was privy to this during Alex's tenure as a 9er. He was set up to fail from the gate. Terrible that... after 7 seasons... Smith is finally getting the coaching he needed when he was drafted in 05.

I'm not expecting this team to win half of the games on the schedule. But to take this team to the next level... we have to win the division games... This win was huge!

Big ups... to Jim Harbaugh and his coaching staff.

Originally posted by BETTERDAYZ9ERS:
Night and Day from the previous 4 coordinators. Offensive that is. Now you see Alex making audibles at the line. You never saw that before.

Results are still the same.

Originally posted by BETTERDAYZ9ERS:

Night and Day from the previous 4 coordinators. Offensive that is. Now you see Alex making audibles at the line. You never saw that before.

Yep. There was that one play where Alex was under center for several seconds then boom, he pulls out and goes into the gun. It was so abrupt and delayed, I thought he false-started himself. lol.

It almost made me jump in my seat and I bet it surprised the defense too that he did that.

Alex? The Niners? GTFO!