Caution: are 9ers "playing down" to lesser competition?

Originally posted by WINiner:
Not every game can be an action packed thriller that leaves you with that high high. A wins a win, and when you are working on streaks of 5 and more ill take them any way they come. Detroit and Tampa really quenched my desire for Niners dominance, although not permanently by any means.

Not pretty enough. As Susweel knows we are a mere 1 - 6 in "pretty wins." Thus making Alexis Smithy a SUKKORRZ QB....

I think it was a combination of 1) Getting stuffed on 4th & goal, 2) leaving at least two big plays on the field and 3) the fact that Dick Jauron is a quality DC and made some good half time adjustments.

Complacency is the last thing I'm worried about with this roster and staff.

Originally posted by D_Niner:

They were playing eat the clock in the second half...

This tho we shouldnt let up as early in a game imo! We are very good, but sometimes that can backfire.

Originally posted by susweel:

Originally posted by Joecool:
No. Alex missed a few throws that would have blown the game open.

Alex doesn't miss throws, it was Crabtree's fault for not being ten feet tall.

This season must just be eating you alive lol. It kills you that Alex isn't costing us games and is playing pretty decent.

Originally posted by redmanc07:

Originally posted by susweel:

Originally posted by Joecool:
No. Alex missed a few throws that would have blown the game open.

Alex doesn't miss throws, it was Crabtree's fault for not being ten feet tall.

This season must just be eating you alive lol. It kills you that Alex isn't costing us games and is playing pretty decent.

Yes it does...

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:

Originally posted by redmanc07:

Originally posted by susweel:

Originally posted by Joecool:
No. Alex missed a few throws that would have blown the game open.

Alex doesn't miss throws, it was Crabtree's fault for not being ten feet tall.

This season must just be eating you alive lol. It kills you that Alex isn't costing us games and is playing pretty decent.

Yes it does...

Yah I hate winning.

Well, based on the number of responses, I guess it was a fair question. Honestly, I wouldn't have been surprised if no one responded. The fact folks did at least think about "letting off the gas"...well, I guess that sort of proves the point. And yes, our teams of yesteryears did do that ...a lot. In response to several comments:

JoeC, Alex did miss on those throws to the TREE( i quit calling him Craps some time ago after he snagged balls way out of reach.). It is an impressive stat tho, that we already have played against 3 of the top 10 Ds, and still have 7 to go.

Antix, I also feel we can beat anybody and anybody can beat us (Rams/Saints, and Steelers/ Pats). This is a weird yr, we had no idea what we had coming in with virtually no PS and a new HC. Man, what will he be like with a yr under his belt?

Echav, interesting point about trying new things on a team we already had "handled". I would rather, however, have wanted to see the passes to Soap and Justin
(or was it Staley) at a critical point in a tight game. From JH's point of view, he may very well wanted to see if his D guys could actually catch an easy pass. So there are two ways to look at this.

Yung Ace, you are welcome. At least somebody caught that.

KowboyK, maybe the layoff could have caused a bit of rust, but we did well in first half which makes the rust part not very believable. On the other hand, we DID have Braylon back and that is huge.

Chico, they did look half azz in 2nd half...and that worries me. I hope it worried Coach Harbaugh. I know he didn't miss it.

Finally, re: the score, I believe we covered (9 pts), but remember, Frank did score on the goal line, even tho field judges didn't call it that way. The interestin thing was, after that, it just seemed we went flat. Maybe JH could have done something to shake the guys up, I dunno, but after we didn't get the call, I thot i saw some effort leak out of the team. I was glad for the call, pure JH, but we got rooked. Still won easily, but i get the feeling, a lot of us saw the 9ers slack off after the half.

There is a strategy in keeping games close, I just read the Steve Young open it up piece at the SFgate. He makes some good points, we do need to broaden the playbook, and let lose a little. The thing about winning is you only need one more point than the other guy to win. What you need to manage the game is a comfortable lead, two scores, 8-14 points is optimal. If a team is down by 3 or more scores at the half they began pressing, they may explode under the pressure they put on them selves, or they may make a big play or two and get back into the game. Some coaches believe in burying their opponents, JH, with the exception of the Tampa game seems to like the 2 score lead. NFL coaches are generally very conservative. When down by 2 scores they will generally stick to the game plan until the last minute, when down by 3 scores they will take more chances. JH seems to like the 2 score lead it keeps his opponent predictable, and allows him to keep control of the game.
I do think that Steve is right in opening up the offense a little now, it will give us confidence, and give our up coming opponents more to look at on film. I read a quote from a player saying we have only used 40% of the playbook, so lets see a little more. I trust JH to let the dogs off the chain a little at a time!

Originally posted by GolittaCamper:
There is a strategy in keeping games close, I just read the Steve Young open it up piece at the SFgate. He makes some good points, we do need to broaden the playbook, and let lose a little. The thing about winning is you only need one more point than the other guy to win. What you need to manage the game is a comfortable lead, two scores, 8-14 points is optimal. If a team is down by 3 or more scores at the half they began pressing, they may explode under the pressure they put on them selves, or they may make a big play or two and get back into the game. Some coaches believe in burying their opponents, JH, with the exception of the Tampa game seems to like the 2 score lead. NFL coaches are generally very conservative. When down by 2 scores they will generally stick to the game plan until the last minute, when down by 3 scores they will take more chances. JH seems to like the 2 score lead it keeps his opponent predictable, and allows him to keep control of the game.
I do think that Steve is right in opening up the offense a little now, it will give us confidence, and give our up coming opponents more to look at on film. I read a quote from a player saying we have only used 40% of the playbook, so lets see a little more. I trust JH to let the dogs off the chain a little at a time!

I saw that. First and only time I'm going to disagree with Steve Young. I want Harbaugh to release as little of that playbook as possible. He needs to release just enough to win and that's all. Leave us thirsting for more. I'm fine with that.

Turnovers helped turn the Tampa Bay game into a rout. The Bucs gave us the ball on their side of the field all game long. We didn't do anything special on offense to score those points. Tampa just gave up as the game wore on and they wore out.

I want to go into our first, second and third playoff games where the opposing coach can only guess at what kind of plays we're about to pull off. And I'd much rather it be something nobody has seen before. That won't happen if Harbaugh airs out the playbook.

Joe Montana threw a total of 19 touchdown passes in 1981. That's it. He didn't light anyone up. He still came up big in the playoffs. "Clutch" Smith has come back to win in three different games. That's saying a lot right there. He's not melting down in the face of pressure. I like it. Keep them close. Keep the team hungering for more.

Originally posted by cypherninja:

Originally posted by susweel:

Originally posted by Joecool:
No. Alex missed a few throws that would have blown the game open.

Alex doesn't miss throws, it was Crabtree's fault for not being ten feet tall.

hahahaha

Were 6-1, Alex has a 96 passer rating and the haters still wont stop. smh

I'm just happy the Niners are finally at the point to be able to view their opponents as 'lesser competition'.

Originally posted by ItsKapTime:

orly?

this game was no closer than the bucs vs. niners game to be honest. even when they got within 7 on a fluke play i didn't feel like there was any chance we were going to lose the game.

we were literally inches away a couple times from blowing this game wide open but it didn't happen. we didn't play down to anyone. playing down to the competition is going down big early and then having to scramble to win it. we f**king destroyed the browns in the 1st half and while they were within 10 at the final score this game wasn't close at all. anyone who watched the game knows this

"lesser competition".....in the past we were considered the lesser competition....wow gotta love the year we are having....everyone enjoy!!!

Golitta, i hadn't heard that and it is interesting, and basically seems sound and reasonable. Steve Young is no dummy.

IWasWrong, interesting stat that Joe threw for only 19 TDs, yet he was deadly in the clutch. The irony of "clutch" Smith is fascinating...3 come from behind saves, and darn near a 4th in Dallas. Plus, we weren't home. As for the playbook, i loved the pass to our 2 D big guys, and there are two ways to think about that. First, "Crap, i wish JH would have saved that for a really close game when we needed it". Second is, "Okay NFL, this is the kind of thing we can do with guys who weigh 300+ pounds, with not just run blocking for Frank, but how about a couple passes to a couple 300 pounders." Maybe, IWas, JH is doing a tease so that next time someone sees a 300 lb D lineman in our O backfield or on the OL, they may think "pass" to Soap and it is a trap play on the other side for Frank...a guaranteed 5 yds on 3rd down. Could be. Initially i thot like you did, but one thing about Coach, he is really tough to outguess....and he doesn't appear to do anything without a reason. We will revisit those two pass plays later in the yr, and the D will think one thing only to see another happen. Bet on it. How did we possibly end up with JH dropped into our laps? Aside from a couple players, we basically aren't a whole lot different than last yr. Amazing, simply amazing.