"The Offense" thread

Originally posted by dj43:
A good bit of it is the lack of practice time. The slant was not in the inventory prior to this season. Now the best we have is Edwards and he is out. Morgan was always on the sideline routes in the past. Ginn is considered too light. Crabtree hasn't had any practice time. In the few times I have seen 49ers run slant routes, the receiver looks tentative about when to actually make the break. Timing is critical.

Greg Jennings is the best slant route runner in the league, IMO. Yesterday he was isolated on a couple of plays. He gets off the line with a burst, drives slightly to the outside shoulder of the DB, then just before he runs into the DB, he breaks sharply on the 45 degree to the inside. His drive and position on the DB prevents the defender from undercutting the route and Jennings body is now between the defender and the incoming ball. If the defender hesitates at all on the break, or is bumped off at all, he is incapable of tackling Jennings. He had considerable RAC on plays that broke down just that way.

Good post, I wonder how Alex's timing would look if he was actually throwing m ore slants.

Guys, check this out! This is how many defenders play up @ the LOS and within the 5 yard box against our offense and the results. See any trends?

Number of Defenders up at the LOS @ the snap / next level w/in 5 yards = Results
5/3 = 11 yard gain (yg)
6/2 = sack (holding)
4/3 = 3 yg
6/0 = Incomplete (screen)
4/4 = 5 yg
4/3 = 5 yg
4/5 = 20 yg
5/2 = 3 yg
5/3 = 3 yg
5/3 = False Start (FS)
5/0 = Incomplete
4/3 = Incomplete (12 yard drop)
4/4 = FS
4/3 = 4 yg
7/0 = Incomplete
5/3 = -4 y
4/4 = 4 yg but (holding)
4/3 = 12 yg
7/0 = 5 yg
5/3 = 2 yg
7/0 = Incomplete
8/0 = FS
4/0 = Sack
5/2 = 5 yg
5/2 = 2 (safety blitz)
7/1 = 3 yg
5/3 = FS
6/1 = Incomplete
4/2 = 6 yg
4/0 = 8 yg
8/0 = 8 yg
5/2 = Incomplete
4/3 = -1

There was only 1 time there wasn't at least 5 men in the box and most attacking. They were not only crowding everyone within the 5 yard box playing down hill but they were also bringing heat on blitzes from the CB's and Safety positions. Our TE, C & RG all had to leave the game with temporary injuries/poor play. How many FS's and holding calls? Dropped passes? No room to run? Guys, this is a direct result of an offense that is getting dictated by the defense. The results were zero points in the first half.

It seemed Alex did a good job under a ton of pressure but only had a chance to hit his first read. 5 sacks and God knows how many hits (including his naked bootleg), pressures/hurries, etc. He seemed to make good reads as well.

Originally posted by NCommand:


It seemed Alex did a good job under a ton of pressure but only had a chance to hit his first read. 5 sacks and God knows how many hits (including his naked bootleg), pressures/hurries, etc. He seemed to make good reads as well.

Great job, NC. I was hard-pressed to find one play where Alex had more than 3 seconds to make his throw. Maybe a handful of plays, and even those would be uncertain. (assuming OL blocks held up)

The one time Alex had nearly 5 seconds? The TD throw to Crabtree in the end zone that was called back on a phantom penalty.

Originally posted by oldman9er:
Great job, NC. I was hard-pressed to find one play where Alex had more than 3 seconds to make his throw. Maybe a handful of plays, and even those would be uncertain. (assuming OL blocks held up)

The one time Alex had nearly 5 seconds? The TD throw to Crabtree in the end zone that was called back on a phantom penalty.

Absolutely, when he had low numbers in the box (and not a heavy rush), he appeared to pick the defense apart. Even when they brought the entire house (many times), he got rid of it quickly to his hot-read and made some great throws. I saw him looking at his wrist-playbook a lot...making audibles?

I think b/c the offense is in its infancy, there are/have been injuries to his key WR's and an inability (or unwillingness) to implement a real WCO (slants/crossing patterns, screens, runs off tackle with speed, more roll-outs, post patterns, stop-n-go's with Ginn, etc) we will continue to see hurt linemen, lots of penalties, changes on the o-line, lots of QB sacks/hits/pressures and generally, pop-warner-type offenses and very low-scoring games. BUT, we should continue to grow if we can avoid the injury bug...

Just want to see our coordinators take more advantage of the oppositions weaknesses b/c we have the weapons, no doubt.

So many EXPLOSIVE teams out there putting up BIG numbers game in game out so far.. I know its more than just 1 player or players but this is sad folks.. after 3 games..

300yd pass game? NONE
100yd rusher games? NONE
100yd receiver? 1, but that would be our TE Vernon Davis. Talk about a slow start from our receivers.. Crabtree had 24yds Sunday and Edwards is out. NOT GOOD

With all that said, we are still 2-1 after a pretty easy schedule so far but this offense better pick up or else we wont win more than 7-8 games and the Cards offense can get it done..

Originally posted by oldman9er:

Originally posted by NCommand:


It seemed Alex did a good job under a ton of pressure but only had a chance to hit his first read. 5 sacks and God knows how many hits (including his naked bootleg), pressures/hurries, etc. He seemed to make good reads as well.

Great job, NC. I was hard-pressed to find one play where Alex had more than 3 seconds to make his throw. Maybe a handful of plays, and even those would be uncertain. (assuming OL blocks held up)

The one time Alex had nearly 5 seconds? The TD throw to Crabtree in the end zone that was called back on a phantom penalty.

That's huge. Only one time Alex has 5 seconds to throw.

Originally posted by taney71:
That's huge. Only one time Alex has 5 seconds to throw.

Well after further intense review, there were 10 plays out of 35 where Alex had a "possible" 4 or 5 seconds. In those cases, some quicker throws were due to Alex liking that his first read was open and the play design was to hit the quick read... some can be questioned on whether Alex should have risked waiting to find a deeper, 2nd or 3rd target. Some check-downs were just plain smart due to game situations and risk/reward considerations.

Game Totals 35 pass plays (5 sacks)

-- 21 were of the "had no more than 3 seconds" variety
-- 10 were of the 3-5 second variety
-- 4 were when the QB had less than 3 seconds

I checked out the Offense vs the Bengals every snap and am I the only one who feels that Joe Staley may not fully recovered from that leg injury suffered last year?? He has always been good at blocking in space and hitting smaller moving targets but he is really struggling with the power rushers. He is consistently pushed pushed back into the QB and is struggling to move his man off the ball. I am not bashing him because I do think he is a quality Tackle, he just doesn't seem to have the power in his lower body. My hopes are that he improves as the season progress and gains more strength in his legs.

On another note I have noticed that Alex Smith although hes not putting up great numbers is playing VERY well, he manages the game and doesn't make mistakes besides the bone head pick against Dallas. He is under CONSTANT pressure and continues to make throws while being hit as well as scramble to put the offense in good position. If he is give time he could actually put up good numbers and continue to manage the game. Impressed with his play thus far and I know its not saying much but this is the best Ive ever seen him.

Originally posted by oldman9er:

Originally posted by NCommand:


It seemed Alex did a good job under a ton of pressure but only had a chance to hit his first read. 5 sacks and God knows how many hits (including his naked bootleg), pressures/hurries, etc. He seemed to make good reads as well.

Great job, NC. I was hard-pressed to find one play where Alex had more than 3 seconds to make his throw. Maybe a handful of plays, and even those would be uncertain. (assuming OL blocks held up)

The one time Alex had nearly 5 seconds? The TD throw to Crabtree in the end zone that was called back on a phantom penalty.

Thanks to you both for your efforts. I have not seen Smith flinch or duck unnecessarily, which I find impressive as often as he's been hit. Don't blame him for accepting the first read open and not looking down field, but he will begin to do that as the season goes on. I think that has been the plan all along so that the offense can build confidence in each other. Having Edwards out hurts but that might even be a blessing letting Crabtree be a more important element next two weeks. Thanks again!

We know that the offensive line is the biggest problem with the offense, but I've noticed one other thing too. A lot of the time when our WRs, TEs, or RBs catch the ball they come to a complete stop and try to fake out the defender. Now, maybe its just me, but shouldn't they keep moving and try to get upfield?

Nice research in here...

Originally posted by PTulini:
We know that the offensive line is the biggest problem with the offense, but I've noticed one other thing too. A lot of the time when our WRs, TEs, or RBs catch the ball they come to a complete stop and try to fake out the defender. Now, maybe its just me, but shouldn't they keep moving and try to get upfield?

good point

Originally posted by PTulini:
We know that the offensive line is the biggest problem with the offense, but I've noticed one other thing too. A lot of the time when our WRs, TEs, or RBs catch the ball they come to a complete stop and try to fake out the defender. Now, maybe its just me, but shouldn't they keep moving and try to get upfield?

Edwards is the exception. He seems to be able to make the right decisions after catching the ball and usually gets as much as possible. As much as I like VD, he is not good at this. Crabtree may be able to do this, have to wait and see. Walker is decent.

Part of the problem is still with Smith delivering the ball just a bit late. He will speed up (more than he already has) as the year progresses and he learns to trust the plays, players and himself. We've seen this in the past with him as he is usually better the last half of the season and that is when he is getting use to the new OC and their systems. As he is already much better this year it give hope that he will really be very good by midyear.

Originally posted by dtg_9er:

Originally posted by PTulini:
We know that the offensive line is the biggest problem with the offense, but I've noticed one other thing too. A lot of the time when our WRs, TEs, or RBs catch the ball they come to a complete stop and try to fake out the defender. Now, maybe its just me, but shouldn't they keep moving and try to get upfield?

Edwards is the exception. He seems to be able to make the right decisions after catching the ball and usually gets as much as possible. As much as I like VD, he is not good at this. Crabtree may be able to do this, have to wait and see. Walker is decent.

Part of the problem is still with Smith delivering the ball just a bit late. He will speed up (more than he already has) as the year progresses and he learns to trust the plays, players and himself. We've seen this in the past with him as he is usually better the last half of the season and that is when he is getting use to the new OC and their systems. As he is already much better this year it give hope that he will really be very good by midyear.

Like I said before, by mid-season this offense should start clicking.