The most important lesson from Baltimore

Originally posted by MadDog49er:
The league is all about adjustments. Can the team adjust to this form of defensive onslaught if it happens again? You know teams will be looking at tape and try to replicate what the Ravens did Thursday.

One game is one game. It doesn't make or break a season. People shouldn't get overly hyped or discouraged by any single game in a 16-game season. For the team now, it is all about preparation for the playoff, and looking to deal with the defenses these teams might throw at them when the playoffs come around.

If I am Harbaugh, I am already collecting tape, and assigning coaches to break down the defenses of the remaining teams in contention for a NFC playoff spot. See what they run, and prepare to adjust to what they might do.

I agree overall. I just don't see another team in the league with the ability to bring pressure the way Baltimore does. Green Bay has only Matthews. Dallas has Ware, who is very good but little else. New Orleans has no one. Chicago has a little bit of heat but not like the Ravens. The Giants are good but not on the same level as the Ravens either.

If the 49ers get by Green Bay, I could see the Super Bowl being a rematch of these two.

The thing I learned the most was that we were a VERY TIRED TEAM. Every play we were either a 1/2 a step or a full step behind. One play in particular displayed this when the Ravens had a 4 man front, only two "really" rushed against EIGHT Niner blockers and BOTH players sacked Alex. It was so bad that Suggs pushed both VD and Walker together back 6 yard for the sack. There have been so many huge games, nail-bitters, big media games, travel, etc. this team just looked very tired while the Ravens played up to the lights of a National media game.

That said, the things we can work on:
Defense -
Stop playing our #$%^& CB's off 10+ yards on 5 straight 3 and 5+'s
Start employing a heavier rotation on the DL and LB's
Start employing a more exotic blitz scheme like the Raven's did with us (overloading areas, moving OLB's around pre-snap, etc.)

Offense -
Obviously, Staley was poor again but so was the rest of the line, in part b/c of our inability to adjust schematically; pass protection issues
Learn how to exploit an aggressive defense by utilizing your TE's and utilizing screens
Catch balls (perpetual problem continues)
Need more speed on the edges with Hunter; Gore is useless if a team run blitzes between the tackles like in previous years and our tackles and TE's struggle sealing the edges

I before E except after C..............and sometimes Y.

Originally posted by NCommand:
The thing I learned the most was that we were a VERY TIRED TEAM. Every play we were either a 1/2 a step or a full step behind. One play in particular displayed this when the Ravens had a 4 man front, only two "really" rushed against EIGHT Niner blockers and BOTH players sacked Alex. It was so bad that Suggs pushed both VD and Walker together back 6 yard for the sack. There have been so many huge games, nail-bitters, big media games, travel, etc. this team just looked very tired while the Ravens played up to the lights of a National media game.

That said, the things we can work on:
Defense -
Stop playing our #$%^& CB's off 10+ yards on 5 straight 3 and 5+'s
Start employing a heavier rotation on the DL and LB's
Start employing a more exotic blitz scheme like the Raven's did with us (overloading areas, moving OLB's around pre-snap, etc.)

Offense -
Obviously, Staley was poor again but so was the rest of the line, in part b/c of our inability to adjust schematically; pass protection issues
Learn how to exploit an aggressive defense by utilizing your TE's and utilizing screens
Catch balls (perpetual problem continues)
Need more speed on the edges with Hunter; Gore is useless if a team run blitzes between the tackles like in previous years and our tackles and TE's struggle sealing the edges

An obvious move would be to employ some screen plays besides just bubble screens. New Orleans does this very well. That will slow down the rush and keep OLBs outside, thus opening up the middle for Gore.

Of course the middle of the Raven defense is guarded by Haloti Ngata who is a LOAD. I think he is the best interior lineman in the league...can't be moved and gets a push in the middle.

Originally posted by kidash98:

Originally posted by verb1der:

Originally posted by kidash98:
For me, the most important lesson we learned from this game is that our O-Line still sucks. It's how we correct it that will be most telling. Playoff teams are one and done if they cannot overcome that deficiency. Let's hope that it can be corrected.

- 98

They don't suck, they were just tired from traveling to the east coast and crossing time zones while playing 2 games in 5 days. We need to realize that the fat players need a lot more rest than that!

No excuse, although a given. They sucked. 9 sacks, bro. 9!!!

While I agree that Baltimore has one of the most dominating defense, there is no way in hell those 9 sacks should have happened, travelling or not or whatever reason there may be.

- 98

Overblown. Ravens are a proud, experienced defense that has been together a long time and they were fired up. That game was set up for them to win and they took advantage. That's really all there is to it. It's naive to think a team would go undefeated on cross country trips when they hadn't won more than 1 a season for a decade.

Always look downfield for delanie on a roll out!

Throw a HB screen, or run a draw to take pressure off the QB.

Originally posted by prime21:
Throw a HB screen, or run a draw to take pressure off the QB.

i kept expecting the RB screen to come, but it never did!

Originally posted by whatawegot:
Most important lesson. Niners exposed. They will be one of the remaining 4 playoff teams in the NFC vying for a championship. Dallas, no, gb, niners. They will lose to one of those teams. Why you say? Because they have worthy plaoyoff tested quarterbacks. I don't want to hear about the dilfer, ravens comparison. Back then there were no great qbs that could challenge an offense. In these times there are. All you whiners make excuses for this team. We are a year away. Get a new qb then talk all you want.

agree

Originally posted by fly15:

Originally posted by whatawegot:
Most important lesson. Niners exposed. They will be one of the remaining 4 playoff teams in the NFC vying for a championship. Dallas, no, gb, niners. They will lose to one of those teams. Why you say? Because they have worthy plaoyoff tested quarterbacks. I don't want to hear about the dilfer, ravens comparison. Back then there were no great qbs that could challenge an offense. In these times there are. All you whiners make excuses for this team. We are a year away. Get a new qb then talk all you want.

agree

i agree too. Although I think our D and running game (when it's on point) can get us by dallas or NO at our house. I do not see us even competing with GB.

Originally posted by ChazBoner:

Originally posted by fly15:

Originally posted by whatawegot:

Most important lesson. Niners exposed. They will be one of the remaining 4 playoff teams in the NFC vying for a championship. Dallas, no, gb, niners. They will lose to one of those teams. Why you say? Because they have worthy plaoyoff tested quarterbacks. I don't want to hear about the dilfer, ravens comparison. Back then there were no great qbs that could challenge an offense. In these times there are. All you whiners make excuses for this team. We are a year away. Get a new qb then talk all you want.

agree

i agree too. Although I think our D and running game (when it's on point) can get us by dallas or NO at our house. I do not see us even competing with GB.

True.

There arent many teams in the league that can replicate the effectiveness of a Ngata & Suggs stunt, and hopefully Chilo will not be playing in any playoff games. A healthy Snyder and Miller probably cuts those sacks in half.

As other posters have mentioned, in the past this game is a 45-6 loss, as bad as this team played... to still have a chance in the 4th quarter is nice to see against a top 5 team in the NFL. There is even an argument to be made that this game might have been decided more by questionable ref calls, than the 9 sacks.

Originally posted by ChazBoner:

Originally posted by fly15:

Originally posted by whatawegot:
Most important lesson. Niners exposed. They will be one of the remaining 4 playoff teams in the NFC vying for a championship. Dallas, no, gb, niners. They will lose to one of those teams. Why you say? Because they have worthy plaoyoff tested quarterbacks. I don't want to hear about the dilfer, ravens comparison. Back then there were no great qbs that could challenge an offense. In these times there are. All you whiners make excuses for this team. We are a year away. Get a new qb then talk all you want.

agree

i agree too. Although I think our D and running game (when it's on point) can get us by dallas or NO at our house. I do not see us even competing with GB.

The 49er defense will give them a chance to compete. GB's secondary is very suspect and they do not have a consistent pass rush from anyone other than Clay Matthews, and teams have figured out how to negate him.

Also GB does not defend the run very well. That gets hidden by the fact most teams have fallen behind quickly and felt compelled to pass. It don't see that happening against the 49ers. The 49ers will be able to run on Green Bay to keep Rodgers and Jennings and friends off the field.

No one in the NFC matches up against Green Bay as well as the 49ers.

Originally posted by dj43:

Originally posted by ChazBoner:

Originally posted by fly15:

Originally posted by whatawegot:

Most important lesson. Niners exposed. They will be one of the remaining 4 playoff teams in the NFC vying for a championship. Dallas, no, gb, niners. They will lose to one of those teams. Why you say? Because they have worthy plaoyoff tested quarterbacks. I don't want to hear about the dilfer, ravens comparison. Back then there were no great qbs that could challenge an offense. In these times there are. All you whiners make excuses for this team. We are a year away. Get a new qb then talk all you want.

agree

i agree too. Although I think our D and running game (when it's on point) can get us by dallas or NO at our house. I do not see us even competing with GB.

The 49er defense will give them a chance to compete. GB's secondary is very suspect and they do not have a consistent pass rush from anyone other than Clay Matthews, and teams have figured out how to negate him.

Also GB does not defend the run very well. That gets hidden by the fact most teams have fallen behind quickly and felt compelled to pass. It don't see that happening against the 49ers. The 49ers will be able to run on Green Bay to keep Rodgers and Jennings and friends off the field.

No one in the NFC matches up against Green Bay as well as the 49ers.

As I pointed out in another thread the niners are just like the great Giants teams of the 1980s. Those teams were designed to beat the high powered offense of SF. We compare extremely well to those squads and I doubt many people would argue the 2011 Packers are better than the 1989 niners.

This is a game where it looked like we gave up a bit. Especially the O-line. Anthony Davis had good position on a lot of those sacks and simply gave up the battle and let the guy get by. Yes, we were tired, but this looked like one game where they didn't show up to play.

All in all we can beat anybody in the league on a good day.