Harbaugh, BigMike, noln, ericison. What do they all have in common?

Losing Braylon Edwards early in the game really hurt this offense, IMO

Ginn did ok stepping in but not having BE and Crabs really put a hurtin on the team. VD blanketed or held back for protection really limited our passing game.

Losing Edwards was a big loss, as we were somewhat equal in injured players until then. Two of the 9ers starters in the DB were out and Dallas is hurting there as well. They had their top WR out, and Crabtree (2nd) was out. OK, they won the injury award, but losing Smith's favorite target other than VD hurt, especially as VD had to be used as a blocker much of the time.

So, two guys who should be backups were our go to guys! Yikes! For a young team that is a difficult situation, and then the line played like they did in two of the preseason games--playing matador rather than their assignments.

Smith took at least three direct hits by unblocked rushers and still was not injured! That is the good news I took from this game.

They were/are head coaches of the 49ers, that's ALL they have in common.

Goldiggerrr made a point I have made in previous posts, and that is regarding established teams doing better after a lockout than inexperienceded teams, particularly those with new coaches. Established teams with established personnel and coaches, were bound to do better out of the gate rather than teams in transition, with new HC, Qbs, etc. This did factor into Harbaugh's decisions, and it is possible he hasn't seen the box 8 , or if he has , hadn't thot about how to defeat it with quick hitting passes. He did see the one play against a box 8 to Morgan for 13 yds. So in tape review he will have to see that is the only thing that works against 8 in a box, until the D backs up and plays where they normally do. This was a coaching loss, pure and simple. JH is a smart guy, hopefully will see the tapes ,and have a short pass answer next time someone tries box 8 on us. The other thing is we had a new OC in the booth, and it is VERY possible he had no idea what a box 8 meant or what it could do. If that is the case, he and JH will both have to watch the tape over an over until they can identify and then call plays to defeat the box 8.

So far, 2 games and Harbaugh has lost the halftime adjustments in both of them. This is not good.

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:

This is an easy one. The last 3 never learned how to call a play against an 8 man box. Harbaugh hopefully learned that he doesn't know what to do either in that situation. Did he not recognize that there were 4 down Dlinemen, and there were either 4 or 5 other guys standing in between and around the down linemen? How hard is it to not see that there are 8 or even 9 guys on the LOS? Good grief. The puzzling thing is, JH did recognize it late in the 4th qtr, and had alex throw a one step slant to Morgan...for 13 yds. He prefaced that and then proceeded thereafter to continue to run frank into 8 man line, or he called a deep drop , 5-7 step , pass. All but one of those went for a loss, a QB sack, (but amazingly, no fumbles...thanks to alex) . What must alex have thot? Sheesh, so many guys standing on LOS that no light went between them, and he had to either hand off to frank or drop back for a deep pass? He must have known he would get squished, because 5 guys can't block 8, or 9 guys sometimes, courtesy of rob ryan. Ryan called a great game. Jason Garrett called a great game. Harbaugh called a D game, maybe F, after not taking the 15 yd penalty on the FG we made.

Coach, coach, what does it take for you and your predecessors, going back to Seifert and Mooch, to not see an 8 man line and throw quick hitters against it until they finally back off. The more Ryan ran a box 8 , the more you either ran frank or called for a 5-7 stepper. If you do not learn anything else from this miserable loss, I hope and pray you learn what a box 8(or 9) looks like and then call the corresponding play to counter it...namely a quick 1 step pass. On virtually every one of those box 8 plays, our WRs hadn't even turned around by the time alex got to his throwing spot, and was immediately tackled. The fact, coach Harbaugh , that you can't or didn't recognize that does not bode well for us. You are a sharp coach. We all saw your innovative playcalling, both O and D in college. You personally instructed your players how to play every position on the field. You made adjustments. Well, here is a poorly kept league secret, and obviously J.Garrett guessed that you didn't either know how to recognize the box 8 or you didn't know what to call against it.

Well, you came , you saw, you lost. I do hope that next time you see a DLine with 4 men with hands on ground and another 4 or 5 guys standing on LOS , that you recognize a bugaboo the previous 3 failed coaches never learned to recognize, or if so, what to do about it. You are way smarter than all 3 of those guys put together...ericison, noln and finally bigMike. Act like it , man, act like it.

Oh, and while we're at it, against Romo or any other team that can score at will, when you kick a FG with 8 mins to go to give you a 10 pt lead, it ain't enough.
Next time, you take the penalty ,run 3 plays...heck maybe more, eat the clock and then kick the frigging FG. All that time you gave Romo was just enough to tie and then beat us. Bud, you lost this game. Not alex, not anybody else. You lost this game you had won. I had us losing 28-27, figuring we couldn't stop Romo. Well we did early on and then you snatched DEFEAT from the jaws of victory. No congratulations are in order here, hopefully this was just a painful lesson that you will learn several big ticket items from. Continue coaching each player so he knows his job. Sit those who don't . But good grief, re-watch this game tape and you will see how you, personally, lost this game. Hey, I am still in your corner and will be forever. But don't pull these mistakes again. You are a way better coach than that. Remember the lesson and let's get on to next week. You can bet you will see the box 8 over and over until you learn to dink quick passes over it.

Even high school ball uses presnap reads that dictate drop depth.

The same play will have a 3 and 5 and even some times a 7 in it.

Its prob less of a playcalling problem and more of a s**t this is new problem

They have all won a game and lost a game?

Hmmm......

An ultra conservative offense nursing a small lead, with plenty of time on the clock, is not enough to win the game when the defense breaks down and gives up a few big plays for the loss;

Hey, I think I've seen that movie before..

Originally posted by Dshearn:
Even high school ball uses presnap reads that dictate drop depth.

The same play will have a 3 and 5 and even some times a 7 in it.

Its prob less of a playcalling problem and more of a s**t this is new problem

Hate to give Ryan credit but when he stacks the box you still do not know which of the LBs will drop at the snap into coverage. Smith might have had more Ints if they had tried to go to quick slants. But...they do have to put the ball in his hands sooner or later to succeed or fail. Results so far? 1-1. Expectations: 1-1.