Week 12: Thoughts after rewatching the game...

Put me down wth dtg, in that as good as Kap played, and all the talent the kid has, he still is light on the experience. Coach is big on experience, and not real comfortable with rooks. Kap has yet to see the BIG RUSH, of Tuck, Jean Pierre, et al. Also he hasn't seen the BIG RUSH of the Texans, nor of the Vikes. Those are the ones that separate the men from the boys. Right now i can truly appreciate the talent i saw early in Kap, and he has progressed a ton since last seen prior to rams game. But that doesn't count for 7 yrs of experience, and that is alex's strong suit. Kap is the player of our future, and alex should finish this season and playoffs. If he falters, well Coach can always bring in Kap. There is no right or wrong here, just passion...and horse sense. I think Coach goes with experience. The saints game, who knows, maybe alex still was dinged up in his brain cells. We don't know. In that case, I would always play kap over alex, if concussion was an issue. Maybe Coach just wanted to be sure alex was ok. Looks like he is now. We'll see who starts next week, but my money is on alex.

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:

Put me down wth dtg, in that as good as Kap played, and all the talent the kid has, he still is light on the experience. Coach is big on experience, and not real comfortable with rooks. Kap has yet to see the BIG RUSH, of Tuck, Jean Pierre, et al. Also he hasn't seen the BIG RUSH of the Texans, nor of the Vikes. Those are the ones that separate the men from the boys. Right now i can truly appreciate the talent i saw early in Kap, and he has progressed a ton since last seen prior to rams game. But that doesn't count for 7 yrs of experience, and that is alex's strong suit. Kap is the player of our future, and alex should finish this season and playoffs. If he falters, well Coach can always bring in Kap. There is no right or wrong here, just passion...and horse sense. I think Coach goes with experience. The saints game, who knows, maybe alex still was dinged up in his brain cells. We don't know. In that case, I would always play kap over alex, if concussion was an issue. Maybe Coach just wanted to be sure alex was ok. Looks like he is now. We'll see who starts next week, but my money is on alex.

Coach is big on experience yet he's on the verge of naming a qb with two starts under his belt as starter? Okay

Yeah, he's on the verge , Monster, but don't be upset if alex starts. I'm ok with either, but talent wise, Kap wins hands down.

I won't be upset. I'll be extremely surprised but I won't be upset

Originally posted by monsterzero789:

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:
Put me down wth dtg, in that as good as Kap played, and all the talent the kid has, he still is light on the experience. Coach is big on experience, and not real comfortable with rooks. Kap has yet to see the BIG RUSH, of Tuck, Jean Pierre, et al. Also he hasn't seen the BIG RUSH of the Texans, nor of the Vikes. Those are the ones that separate the men from the boys. Right now i can truly appreciate the talent i saw early in Kap, and he has progressed a ton since last seen prior to rams game. But that doesn't count for 7 yrs of experience, and that is alex's strong suit. Kap is the player of our future, and alex should finish this season and playoffs. If he falters, well Coach can always bring in Kap. There is no right or wrong here, just passion...and horse sense. I think Coach goes with experience. The saints game, who knows, maybe alex still was dinged up in his brain cells. We don't know. In that case, I would always play kap over alex, if concussion was an issue. Maybe Coach just wanted to be sure alex was ok. Looks like he is now. We'll see who starts next week, but my money is on alex.

Coach is big on experience yet he's on the verge of naming a qb with two starts under his belt as starter? Okay

On "Chronicle Live", a local bay area show, they talked about how the last two Giants games have made a big impression on Harbaugh's thinking going forward and being the main reason why CK would be the starter.

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:
Put me down wth dtg, in that as good as Kap played, and all the talent the kid has, he still is light on the experience. Coach is big on experience, and not real comfortable with rooks. Kap has yet to see the BIG RUSH, of Tuck, Jean Pierre, et al. Also he hasn't seen the BIG RUSH of the Texans, nor of the Vikes. Those are the ones that separate the men from the boys. Right now i can truly appreciate the talent i saw early in Kap, and he has progressed a ton since last seen prior to rams game. But that doesn't count for 7 yrs of experience, and that is alex's strong suit. Kap is the player of our future, and alex should finish this season and playoffs. If he falters, well Coach can always bring in Kap. There is no right or wrong here, just passion...and horse sense. I think Coach goes with experience. The saints game, who knows, maybe alex still was dinged up in his brain cells. We don't know. In that case, I would always play kap over alex, if concussion was an issue. Maybe Coach just wanted to be sure alex was ok. Looks like he is now. We'll see who starts next week, but my money is on alex.

I agree. Strategically it makes much more sense to have Alex start against the Rams. If he plays poorly, it is then easy to go back to CK. Having 2 excellent QB's going forward is very important, ask the Steelers this year or the Bears last year. And even next year, who's to say CK won't look like Cam Newton in year 2, albeit on a much better team.

If harbaugh goes back to Alex is because of loyalty and respect to Alex Smith, coupled with the fact that Alex has more game experience.

However, I do think Kaepernick ceiling is higher.

I dont understand why people say "well kaepernick can be like Cam, sucks next year, blah blah blah"

Dude, we have one of the best QB guru, if he can turn Alex Smith's career around, I'm sure he can develop a physically talented QB like kaepernick. It just makes me laugh how people sing praises to Harbaugh as a QB guru because he can develop Alex Smith into a efficient QB, but he can't develop any other QBs who have a higher talent level than Smith???

Posting about being worried about Justin Smith getting old is ridiculous at this time. Thats the only thing I have a problem with in your rant. Justin is having his very best season. Lets get through this season and worry about Justin Smith gettting old at the end of this season......I see him and Aldon being around for a few more seasons at this point in time........

Originally posted by Marvin49:

Originally posted by GolittaCamper:
Nice read, good post, one thing I've noticed is the number os sacks Kap takes, as opposed to Alex. Kap seems to have a better sense of when to slide, or move away from pressure. In his first two starts he faced two very different styles of defense, the Bears rush 4 and cover, mixing in a few well disguised blitzes, and the Saints seem to blitz almost every down in just about every direction, and Kap handled it well, and as I recall took very few...any sacks. Alex as brutally efficient, and consistent seems to swallow the ball and take the sack when he deems it safest, Kap keeps the play alive and keeps fighting.

It sucks when you have two very good QBs!

That just reminds me of something I keep reading that drives me nuts. This isn't targetted at you...

...but everytime I read that the Bears played "vanilla" against the 49ers and thats why he had success...I want to freakin' scream. Of course they played vanilla. They play vanilla in EVERY game and still beat the crap out of people. Thats simply what the Bears do and what they have been doing to have one of the best D's in the league.

Its not like they said..."ya know what? This kids a rook...lets simplify it for him!". No. They did what has worked against almost every other team they have played...and it didn't work.

I called it vanilla, or you might say "very basic," and yes, it is. And yes, the Bears play it very well...until someone takes the time to structure a game plan around that very basic approach...which is what Harbaugh/Roman did. Kaepernick said in a post game interview that all he did was follow the game plan. "Bears did what we expected them to do."

Not everyone, (very few) are as creative and thorough as Harbaugh. When any team lets the opponent know what they plan to do, it gives opponents an edge. The Bears may have some quality players but when you become predictable, an opponent will work you. In this case, it made throwing down the field a much easier proposition because it was easy to predict what the Bears would do. So while that takes nothing away from the throws Kaepernick made, it did make the reads much easier.

To follow that up; the age/wear and tear on Urlacher and Briggs was exposed in that game. They no longer have the foot speed and agility they once had. The still play downhill very well but do not cover well anymore. That left the mid-to-deep range areas much more available. Again, nothing against CK, it is just that the Bears were not the mighty monsters some purported.

I don't get why people think 375 yds of total offense is a bad thing? Everybody's like "OMG we didn't get atleast 400 on a defense that gives up 400yds every game!" I keep hearing this and it annoys me because we got 2 defensive TDs that took our offense off the field. IMO 375 with 2 defensive TDs is pretty awesome

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:

Yeah, he's on the verge , Monster, but don't be upset if alex starts. I'm ok with either, but talent wise, Kap wins hands down.

That talent should be the deciding factor..............upside is everything in the NFL and Kaep has it.

Originally posted by Marvin49:

Originally posted by sfninerfanMax:
would the Niners trade Alex Smith in the offseason? I remember Jimmy Johnson drafting two QB's--Aikman and I forget the other QB's name--but he was traded eventually and that kept Dallas well stocked with good players in their last SB era.

If Kaep remains the starter and the 49ers can't negotiate Alex to a much smaller "backup" number (very unlikely they would be able to do that), he will be released. Other teams know he has a timebomb in his contract so won't trade for him. They'd just wait until Feb and sign him outright.

I'm not sure the 49ers will need to work him back down to a lower number, or want to do so. Just look at Chicago and Pittsburgh. Neither have a decent backup and the subs have put them behind in the playoff scenario. I would bet that Baalke will try to re-sign Smith for something close to what he is getting now, perhaps even a small raise. After all, running QBs have a tendency to get injured. Assuming Kaepernick is the starter from here on in (I believe so), having Smith ready as a sub will guarantee a continued run into the playoffs. We all know how close we were last season with Smith at QB, no reason we won't go beyond that this season with more weapons.

Few will deny that Kap is superior to Alex in size, weight, speed, escabability and arm strength. Hence, most observe that Kap has a higher ceiling and is more likely to produce big plays than Alex. With this I cannot disagree. But if these traits were so important, why do we not see them in most of our elite QBs? Most would agree that the elites include Rodgers, Brady, P. Manning, Brees, and E. Manning. A few years ago Warner was considered elite

With the possible exception of Rodgers, how many of these elites match or excell Kap in size, speed, escapability and arm strength? Probably none. Why are they elite? Probably experience, instinct, vision, accuracy, decision making, and production when it matters most. These are rare traits, otherwise there would be a ton of elites in the league. History shows us that very few QBs are able to sustain extraordinary success over the long haul.

The reason I feel sad for Alex is that he gutted it out for years when the team had holes: Bad OC, poor OL, average WRs. Last year, under Harbaugh, many of those holes were patched. A few still persisted, so the team addressed them during the offseason. Snyder was replaced and Manningham and Moss were brought in. Like a fine race car, most of the parts are now in place and are starting to mesh into a smooth-running machine. Finally, Alex could go out and drive this wonderful machine and reap the benefits of it. But suddenly, the keys are handed over to someone else, and he will be dramatically aided in being able to look good running it. I think it is sad. But who said life was fair?

Finally, there have been many on this board who declared at one time that Alex was the worst starting QB in the league. Others said he was inaccurate. We were told he couldn't do this or do that. And he eventually proved them wrong. I think he still has room to grow and improve, and will if provided the opportunity. Do not condemn me for comparing him to Montana, but the stat is interesting. One recently mentioned that based on a few games, Kap has a yards per attempt of 9.19, while Alex is only 7.98. For reference, Montanas career average was 7.52, showing that one does not need dazzling deep passes to win SBs. Other traits must be more important.

The biggest plus I took from the Saints game is how well the 49ers were putting pressure on Brees. They were not doing this as consistently earlier in the year. Now they seem to be coming into a new level. Others beside Aldon were bringing the heat. That is what the Giants do and that is why they are winning. When the opponents offense is stymied, the defense begins to press and becomes vulnerable. If even Drew Brees cannot find time to throw, others will have nightmares.

I don't believe I've ever commented on your weekly thoughts posts but I read them every week and wanted to thank you for contributing them. They're always right on the money and very insightful. Great work, keep em coming.


As far as this game is concerned, the only thing you may have left out was AKERS. Guy has me very worried after declaring him my favorite kicker of all time last season.