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.
[ Edited by Afrikan on Nov 25, 2011 at 5:12 PM ]