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

No, that's the Saints.

We are going to be fine. I love physical, punishing games.

i knew i wasn't the only person that noticed that.....they came out the first half kicking ass.....then the second it was like they were just slacking off.....the whole time i kept screaming at the tv to shut em down already......i know it was a bummer we got a touchdown taking away from us....idk

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.

It's not Crabtree's fault. Everybody is always blaming him.

It's his mother and father's fault for not giving him the proper genetic material to obtain a height of 10+ feet.

I said that quarterbacking would be the key to the game. It almost cost us, but our defense is just too darn good.

Naw the browns are a tough team. So are all the other teams we faced besides SEA.

It's already been said but Rams/Saints and Pitts/ Pats... On any given Sunday...so maybe we won one we shoulda lost and lost one we shoulda won. The point about 6-1 is about the reverse of last several yrs at this point in time. Not exact, but close. So we do go out and play hard one half , then put it on auto glide the 2nd. Coach knew we already should have had one more TD(frank's), and I guess the game was in the freezer. It would be interesting to know what exactly was said during the half. Not much to say except " jeez, you guys played great". The one thing that continues to amaze is that we seem to get better each and every game in some aspect or another. Maybe Coach did say, "Hey , let's put it in second gear and take a breather" . With this guy, one never knows.

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.

and 12 foot arms with lions blood in his veins and a rocket up his arse

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.

ah so i see you've visited the alex smith thread recently...apparently alex never ever ever makes a mistake

Originally posted by BrianGO: I said that quarterbacking would be the key to the game. It almost cost us, but our defense is just too darn good.



How did the QB almost cost us the game? The QB had 0 int and 0 fumbles and a completion percentage of 62%.

What am I missing?

The second half became a preseason game, they wanted to try some plays, like a lot of the people on here said, the niners aren't going to lose the game regardless if the brown scores. we had people go down in the first half so i'd rather have them play more prevent D in the second half to avoid more injuries. JH knows what he's doing and the browns wasn't showing anything.

Originally posted by Shorteous:
Originally posted by BrianGO: I said that quarterbacking would be the key to the game. It almost cost us, but our defense is just too darn good.



How did the QB almost cost us the game? The QB had 0 int and 0 fumbles and a completion percentage of 62%.

What am I missing?

Not "pretty enough." No 400 yards, 3 picks and a loss...

Well, last week the above title was applicable, and same can be said for this week. Once we got up and starting in the second half, it seemed like a replay of last week. The second half, particularly in the 4th quarter with the clock winding down from 9 minutes, the D played "not to lose" and allowed Skins QB Beck to complete one pass after another and in a matter of minutes, they marched down the field , bam , bam, bam. If that is Coach's choice, hey, a W is a W, and I cannot complain. This laying back and playing not to lose on D, however, is not something that can be turned off and on like a light switch. To do this 2 weeks in a row is a bit scary. I just hope it doesn't bite us in the end. Basically with the onside kick, following both an easy TD and 2pt conversion, the game actually ended up being close. If Vernon doesn't get that onside kick, who knows what would have happened, besides the momentum swinging wildly the other way. When we play D like that, called by our coaching staff, maybe Coach H, maybe not, we look exactly like we have for the past 9yrs. "Bend but don't break" or some horseschidt like that that we had to listen to first from the amazin' noln, and later his protege, Bigmike, also known as BM. Prevent D, playing not to lose, Bend but don't break....heck, you don't see the great teams doing that. Certainly, JH has his reasons, and yes we did get the W, but this kind of stuff is exactly what got us in the briar patch last 8 yrs.

As has been said frequently, "prevent D just prevents us from winning" . Truer words were never spoken. Oh, and for the record, if we had played the Giants, Pats, Ravens, Pitts, or GB, today...we would have lost...and that is the problem with "prevent D". Please Coach, no mas. Let's start working on smothering them on D and not let our D stats start piling up again. I am certain Coach had his reasons. The result would have been a loss to teams named above today. Oh, and the Giants? they are gonna be tough to beat. Eli was sharp , their D was good, and they have 2 RBs that are really tough to tackle. Going into the game we looked like a top 2 or 3 team. Post game we looked like a top 7 or 8 team....and most of the criticism is against coaching philosophy for the D, not the O.

Oh and yes, I so realize that we just won 4 straight road games on the East coast, something last done,unh, 20, 24 yrs ago...or was it longer. Hey that is no mean feat, but still we are going to need to be sharp for 60 mins next week. The Giants beat the Pats...in Foxborough...and they had a winning streak there going back 4 or 5 yrs. Watch out for the Giants..no slacking off against them if we get up on them. I just hope the D can rally for a 2nd half next week when we WILL need it.

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:
I just hope it doesn't bite us in the end. Basically with the onside kick, following both an easy TD and 2pt conversion, the game actually ended up being close.

Nice post.

I've made a point of trying to explain just how conservative Coach Harbaugh is in this and other threads--I've also tried to put his conservatism in the context of Walsh's and Seifert's tendencies toward conservatism.

You're absolutely right about the dangers associated with this kind of conservatism. I get the feeling that we've both seen Walsh and Seifert being bitten on the ankle by the prevent--the Falcons rapidly come to mind as beneficiaries of both coaches' conservatism. Without a bit of help from Shanahan today, Harbaugh was also in danger of being bitten by the prevent. Twice Shanahan opted to go for it on 4th down within long but feasible field goal range in the 4th quarter. As you mention, Harbaugh cut it very closely today.

A critic of this analysis would rightly point out that a field goal on either of those drives would have changed the complexion of the Niners' playcalling on both sides of the ball. But I think you're right to point out that the sort of intensity necessary to play at your peak isn't something that you can turn on with the flick of a switch. Once you've adopted a conservative, play-to-win mindset, it's mentally difficult to flip the switch and shift back to the killer instinct.

Last, I really like the fact that you concentrated on turning the D loose, rather than focusing on the offensive side of the ball. I don't have a problem with minimizing risk on the offensive side of the ball, not with a run game like ours. But, given my druthers, I'd prefer that the Coach used our D like the Steelers and Ravens use theirs: like a mafia hit man uses a baseball bat. Blood is a fine start, but you can't really be certain until you see brains.