49ers Offense - One Thing Clear.....

Coaches backed Edwards and Alex needs to be less critical. Go ask Braylon what he was thinking so next time you don't make the same miscommunication. Smith had a dismissive look on his face and that will not help their chemistry. I hope they talked off the field and ironed things out between them.

Originally posted by Kilgore_Trout:
Don't remind me about Vernon Davis not going out of bounds. It made me question just how intelligent he is... I mean, that decision was literally a no-brainer.

it's a selfish play as he is able to do it sometimes, trying to make a play on its own with two defenders in his face instead of the team play (going out of bounds)

Originally posted by TheRatMan13:

Originally posted by BuZzB28:
Yeah u got it!

What teams aren't in trouble against good defenses? I haven't seen the Packers play one top defense outside of Chicago.

If you want to play football then can you play a wr? then if the top defense dangerous can hit you so hard or hurt you. how ur feel? you don't want an injured?! The packers play used the top defense outside of chicago that they played alot used with them like two games for North Division. So 49ers don't have enough play for once the top defense like Ravens when one game is once or two year. u know what i mean.. I seem the 49ers WR are scare the top dangerous of defense. The 49ers RB are not scare but still struggle against the top defense. Alex Smith can't throw them the WRs cuz WRs are scare like away. I already realize it..

2 Things Clear... #1. We do not have an offense that is complete (It will take this year plus probably next). #2. Alex Smith puts a tiny ceiling on what the 49ers are capable into ever developing into a high powered offense...

Originally posted by dtg_9er:
Coaches backed Edwards and Alex needs to be less critical. Go ask Braylon what he was thinking so next time you don't make the same miscommunication. Smith had a dismissive look on his face and that will not help their chemistry. I hope they talked off the field and ironed things out between them.

Smith didn't play a perfect game but he needs to show frustration as a leader. If players wont go the extra effort for him and he cant trust them then he will give the ball to somebody else. I think the stat I saw was Edwards has been targeted close to 10 times in 2 games and has done nothing. Not all of those passes were perfect but for a guy who wants to be paid top dollar he needs to fight for the ball. Kyle Williams looks to put more effort into his limited snaps compared to Edwards, and that's disheartening especially for a starting QB.

If Edwards had the drive that Morgan did this would be a non-issue.

Originally posted by jreff22:
Smith didn't play a perfect game but he needs to show frustration as a leader. If players wont go the extra effort for him and he cant trust them then he will give the ball to somebody else. I think the stat I saw was Edwards has been targeted close to 10 times in 2 games and has done nothing. Not all of those passes were perfect but for a guy who wants to be paid top dollar he needs to fight for the ball. Kyle Williams looks to put more effort into his limited snaps compared to Edwards, and that's disheartening especially for a starting QB.

If Edwards had the drive that Morgan did this would be a non-issue.

Hmm...good point, but I am giving Edwards the benefit of the doubt due to his play earlier in the year--which impressed me. He may still be under 100% and Williams should be on the field. One factor that may support your point of view is that I understand Edwards, due to his injury, is very unlikely to reach his incentives. Could this be the reason for the decidedly uninspiring play?

Originally posted by dtg_9er:
Coaches backed Edwards and Alex needs to be less critical. Go ask Braylon what he was thinking so next time you don't make the same miscommunication. Smith had a dismissive look on his face and that will not help their chemistry. I hope they talked off the field and ironed things out between them.

Not sure what you guys are saying. I didn't see Alex being critical of guys at all. After that play, he went over and talked to Braylon. He said I saw you stem inwards and Braylon refutes that. That was pretty much the extent of their conversation.

Originally posted by dtg_9er:

Originally posted by jreff22:
Smith didn't play a perfect game but he needs to show frustration as a leader. If players wont go the extra effort for him and he cant trust them then he will give the ball to somebody else. I think the stat I saw was Edwards has been targeted close to 10 times in 2 games and has done nothing. Not all of those passes were perfect but for a guy who wants to be paid top dollar he needs to fight for the ball. Kyle Williams looks to put more effort into his limited snaps compared to Edwards, and that's disheartening especially for a starting QB.

If Edwards had the drive that Morgan did this would be a non-issue.

Hmm...good point, but I am giving Edwards the benefit of the doubt due to his play earlier in the year--which impressed me. He may still be under 100% and Williams should be on the field. One factor that may support your point of view is that I understand Edwards, due to his injury, is very unlikely to reach his incentives. Could this be the reason for the decidedly uninspiring play?

I think you hit the 2 possible answers:
A) still injured
B) not interested

I don't think he's 100%, but more effort can be made at 80% or 90%. I think he knows he wont be able to put up the big numbers so his FA period will not be very lucrative. I was very very hesitant with this signing and was against it from the start. Once he signed I supported him but I have watched Edwards since his Cle days and know what he can do, good and bad. Right now he looks like a semi healthy player who doesn't give a s**t. Not a good target for a QB to be throwing to any day of the week!

Originally posted by SportsFan:
Not sure what you guys are saying. I didn't see Alex being critical of guys at all. After that play, he went over and talked to Braylon. He said I saw you stem inwards and Braylon refutes that. That was pretty much the extent of their conversation.

Expression on Smith's face and his demeanor was dismissive. I may be reading too much into this or there may already be a history in recent games of Edwards being erratic, but we can't know unless they go public and I don't see that happening. Early in the season they seemed really in sync but since Edwards' return...yuck!

But that's what we do here on the zone...conjecture with little real evidence. Fun!

Niners had Sunday night, Monday and Wed (on the plane) to look at film of the Ravens. You have to get a basic game plan in late Monday so you can do a walk through Tuesday. Get on a plane and sit for 5-6 hours when your body is still recovering from the previous game and stay in a hotel where you will get minimum amount of sleep. On Thursday do another walk through on to cover changes in the original game plan. Now go suit up and play a football game at 8:20 EST and beat the 1 or 2 ranked defense in the NFL on there home turf.

These guys are use to having Tuesday off, you lose a day of practice and training due to the flight to the east coast. Sure some planning was probably done in previous weeks here and there but over all you have to go in with a basic game plan keep it close and try to adjust. Frankly the entire team looked tired and lethargic which I can't blame them for being. Very tough to win when you go to the east coast in a normal week damn near impossible on a short week and playing a coach who know you pretty darn well and has the #1-2 ranked defense.

Originally posted by BuZzB28:

Originally posted by TheRatMan13:

Originally posted by BuZzB28:
Yeah u got it!

What teams aren't in trouble against good defenses? I haven't seen the Packers play one top defense outside of Chicago.

If you want to play football then can you play a wr? then if the top defense dangerous can hit you so hard or hurt you. how ur feel? you don't want an injured?! The packers play used the top defense outside of chicago that they played alot used with them like two games for North Division. So 49ers don't have enough play for once the top defense like Ravens when one game is once or two year. u know what i mean.. I seem the 49ers WR are scare the top dangerous of defense. The 49ers RB are not scare but still struggle against the top defense. Alex Smith can't throw them the WRs cuz WRs are scare like away. I already realize it..

this.

Originally posted by Afrikan:
ok the title might have been alittle over dramatic...but
The 49ers team you saw last night was the same you saw for most of the season. It was just that the Ravens played mistake free football and converted 3rd downs when it counted.

look at these stats...

we were...
2/12 16% on 3rd down conversions against the Ravens

8/21 38% on 3rd down conversions against the Cards

3/11 27% against the Giants

3/12 25% against the Redskins

6/15 40% against the Browns

2/14 14% against the Lions

etc...

the point is we have been bad at converting 3rd down conversions all year. It just helped us that most of the teams we played made mistakes to get us good field position or just get the ball back for our offense to get another chance to score something. Sure we caused those mistakes as well, but we have also had the luxury of offenses making bonehead plays to help us out.

last night, the Ravens played mistake free football and relied on their offense converting key 1st downs when it counted.

with the type of offense we run and the decisions our QB goes for....if we play another team again that plays mistake free football, we will HAVE to improve our 3rd down conversion percentages drastically or we will lose. And more importantly be one and done in the playoffs.

I've said this before, but some wonder why folks make a big deal about Alex not having alot of yards per game......By Alex converting these 3rd downs, he is extending drives which also adds to his yardage total...which show up at the end in the box score. I'd personally be fine with 250-300 yards a game, as long as we convert 1st downs with those yards and score.

I don't remember alot of plays where our RBs were stuffed on 3rd downs.....but do remember more on missed passes and drops....or passes completed short of the first down. So it is not all on Alex. But he has a part along with our receivers. I think we have seen the ceiling for this offensive approach.....we should be able to beat most teams with it. But I don't know if we can beat a talented disciplined team unless our offense converts 3rd downs much more often.

This is good ifno. I don't know if we've seen the ceiling of this offense. I will say if we don't change, we'll be a team that can consistnely make the playoffs and will have a day like this occasionally. The good news is that the only team capable of makng the happen left on our schedule is the Steelers. The other good news is that no other team in the NFC has the ability to shut down this offense the way the Ravens did.

In order for us to take it to the next level, I'd say it's more important for us to get that 3rd down conversion rate up. Whether it be completing those short passes or establishing a deep threat doesn't matter to me. We need to get that to be consistently between 33-40%. If we can do that, this offense won't exactly be Green Bay or New Orleans, but it will be close to impossible to truly shut them down. This defense plays well enough right now for us to win a championship. They generate no QB pressure, no turnovers, yet still only yield 16 points. Yes they gave up many 3rd downs to Flacco, but if you defense gives up only 16 points, you should be able to win 95% of the time.

Originally posted by Afrikan:
ok the title might have been alittle over dramatic...but
The 49ers team you saw last night was the same you saw for most of the season. It was just that the Ravens played mistake free football and converted 3rd downs when it counted.

look at these stats...

we were...
2/12 16% on 3rd down conversions against the Ravens

8/21 38% on 3rd down conversions against the Cards

3/11 27% against the Giants

3/12 25% against the Redskins

6/15 40% against the Browns

2/14 14% against the Lions

etc...

the point is we have been bad at converting 3rd down conversions all year. It just helped us that most of the teams we played made mistakes to get us good field position or just get the ball back for our offense to get another chance to score something. Sure we caused those mistakes as well, but we have also had the luxury of offenses making bonehead plays to help us out.

last night, the Ravens played mistake free football and relied on their offense converting key 1st downs when it counted.

with the type of offense we run and the decisions our QB goes for....if we play another team again that plays mistake free football, we will HAVE to improve our 3rd down conversion percentages drastically or we will lose. And more importantly be one and done in the playoffs.

I've said this before, but some wonder why folks make a big deal about Alex not having alot of yards per game......By Alex converting these 3rd downs, he is extending drives which also adds to his yardage total...which show up at the end in the box score. I'd personally be fine with 250-300 yards a game, as long as we convert 1st downs with those yards and score.

I don't remember alot of plays where our RBs were stuffed on 3rd downs.....but do remember more on missed passes and drops....or passes completed short of the first down. So it is not all on Alex. But he has a part along with our receivers. I think we have seen the ceiling for this offensive approach.....we should be able to beat most teams with it. But I don't know if we can beat a talented disciplined team unless our offense converts 3rd downs much more often.

This is good information. Right now, this defense is playing well enough for us to win a championship. Anytime you only yield 16 points, with no offensive help, and generate no QB pressure or turnovers, you are pretty good and any team in the league will take their defense only giving up 16 points.

If we can get that 3rd down conversation rate between 35-40%, we won't exactly be Green Bay or New Orleans, but that will make this team a championship contender for years to come, without adding any extra pieces to the offense.

Originally posted by verb1der:

Originally posted by BuZzB28:

Originally posted by TheRatMan13:

Originally posted by BuZzB28:
Yeah u got it!

What teams aren't in trouble against good defenses? I haven't seen the Packers play one top defense outside of Chicago.

If you want to play football then can you play a wr? then if the top defense dangerous can hit you so hard or hurt you. how ur feel? you don't want an injured?! The packers play used the top defense outside of chicago that they played alot used with them like two games for North Division. So 49ers don't have enough play for once the top defense like Ravens when one game is once or two year. u know what i mean.. I seem the 49ers WR are scare the top dangerous of defense. The 49ers RB are not scare but still struggle against the top defense. Alex Smith can't throw them the WRs cuz WRs are scare like away. I already realize it..

this.

Greatest ... post ... ever.

so this is where my 3rd Down % thread merged with.....there were some pretty good post in that thread, too bad some might have got lost in the mixing.

looking forward to seeing if we drastically improve our percentages vs a rather *easier* team.

Don't forget, the team is ready to roll out Kaepernick, the............. "secret weapon".