Week 2 Post Game Analysis

In spite of all the great potential, CK is essentially a rookie. Without a running game, we are relying on a rookie QB and a limited receiver corps to beat the best pass defense in the league. Wonder why this happened? RUN THE ROCK!

Originally posted by LifelongNiner:

Originally posted by tatdwolf49:

I think tha 49ers are starting to believe tha hype N that teams should just roll over for us.. luvz my 49ers but we gotta get back to smash mouth run them over style on all sides of tha ball...

Nothing about this loss says that they expect teams to role over for them. They didn't come out flat and uninspired, the way they did against Minnesota last season or against the Rams. The defense played well for most of the game until they wore down. The offense was in position to make plays and just failed to execute. This was poor execution. So many times we saw Kaep go to the wrong player or try to force things, or hesitated with taking off and running. I thought we were well prepared to at least make of a game of it this time around.

Wow U really think we were well prepared i dont agree at all with that ... we needed a second N third back up plans N had nothing goin on ...

Vance MacDonald and Eric Reid are going to be great football players. I think we'll be impressed when MacDonald has to step in for Davis for a week or two while Davis mends his hamstring. Very different players, obviously, but in the mold of a traditional TE, MacDonald looks like a stud. And I haven't seen such an enticing safety prospect for the Niners since Ronnie Lott's rookie year.

If there is one thing we know for sure from last year and the first two weeks of this year: The 49ers can beat the Packers at home, They can not beat Seattle on the road.

Playing the Seahawks in Seattle is the achilles of the Kap/Harbaugh 49ers era. Whether you blame it on the crowd noise, the weather or Seattle's good defense, We can never settle into a rhythm on offense against them. Only good thing is that it's Week 2 not Week 10, there is ALOT of football left to play. We get a huge advantage playing them at home late in the year and you know Harbs is gonna do anything humanly possible to get some payback and whoop they ass in that game.

Originally posted by BSofSF:
Vance MacDonald and Eric Reid are going to be great football players. I think we'll be impressed when MacDonald has to step in for Davis for a week or two while Davis mends his hamstring. Very different players, obviously, but in the mold of a traditional TE, MacDonald looks like a stud. And I haven't seen such an enticing safety prospect for the Niners since Ronnie Lott's rookie year.

One of my favorite plays last night was when Vance McDonald lowered his shoulders and straight ran over Sherman. Knocked that punk on his ass.

Originally posted by artiga1:

Originally posted by BSofSF:
Vance MacDonald and Eric Reid are going to be great football players. I think we'll be impressed when MacDonald has to step in for Davis for a week or two while Davis mends his hamstring. Very different players, obviously, but in the mold of a traditional TE, MacDonald looks like a stud. And I haven't seen such an enticing safety prospect for the Niners since Ronnie Lott's rookie year.

One of my favorite plays last night was when Vance McDonald lowered his shoulders and straight ran over Sherman. Knocked that punk on his ass.

Exactly. He is a rookie, but plays like nothing phases him and just blew over their best defensive player. He will prove to be an upgrade over Delaine Walker and could probably handle himself very well if Vernon Davis went down. Speaking of which...did they update on his hamstring problem?

I think this game was a lot closer than the final score. The 49ers did a lot of damage to themselves, but even without them shooting themselves in the foot they still lose in a much tighter game. That means seattle is still good but not that good. The panthers didn't look that great this week either making last weeks win a lot less impressive. Then they come home for their home opener set a new "loudness" record and count on the 49ers to make mistakes to win? Like I said seattle is good but not that good. They're an illusion and I can't wait til the come to the stick and have the 49ers beat them legit. seattle held the ball for 13 more minutes and only gained 83 more yards.

Absolutely nothing went right offensively. Hard for me to pile on one player. Harbs should take the bulk of the responsibility for that terrible offensive gameplan.

Originally posted by SportsFan:
Holy s**t do they like to talk up in Seattle. See Pete's latest comments? Guy is like a giddy 12 year old.

Meanwhile our guys just give them credit and say they for outplayed.

In response to this, and to give you some comment from the other side:

1) Of course PC was giddy like a 12 year old. He just coached his arse off and won a game against a division opponent. Coaches should be jubilant after a victory. It's pretty sad when you see NFL coaches after a win that look more relieved than happy. Why are you still coaching if you're not having fun doing it?

2) I agree with you about Harbaugh in hearing his comments after the game. He basically said we were outplayed and out coached, give props to Seattle. I did hear CK in his presser though saying how Seattle didn't do anything to stop the 49ers, they basically didn't execute anything.

3) The Richard Sherman comments about Harbaugh blowing him off after the game are BS. You could clearly see Sherman run up to him, pat him on the butt or something say good game, and immediately turn around and take off. Harbaugh turned around to say something (presumably congratulations), but Sherman was already gone. For Sherman to say Harbaugh blew him off, is just a loud mouth guy instigating crap unecessarily. He and Baldwin really do hate their old college coach though. Wonder what really went on between them. Also, wonder what Harbaugh was thinking or looking at on draft day to let these 2 guys just go by without giving them a sniff.

4) The hits on Wilson made me chuckle. The one where Brooks absolutely blew him up in particular when Lynch broke free for 12 or 15 yards. In my eyes, that was played absolutely perfectly by Brooks. When you're playing a read-option you have to stay disciplined, and if you're responsibility is the QB, you blow him up. If teams want to run the read-option, they have to know they're exposing their QB to these kind of plays. What made me chuckle is that Harbaugh has his guys playing it EXACTLY the way he was publicly complaining about last week. As I said, I agree with the way SF played it, it just makes Harbaugh look.......good.

5) San Frans defense is fantastic. A healthy Aldon and Justin Smith make a heck of a diference on the line. Especially after Okung went down, Aldon played out of his mind. One thing I noted, that surprised me a little was the style of play the secondary used. They played a lot of man press, and they did it very well. Seattles WR's had a very difficult time getting any seperation through the entire game. They also did it in a very physical way, just like Seattles corners do. Which I thought deserved a mention. There is constant complaining about Seattles secondary on here, and why it never gets called. My response has always been, if it never gets called then it is either allowed, or the refs are going to allow that style of play within the course of the game. Which if either is the case, why would more teams not play this way? This is afterall a copycat league. And low and behold, they all but completely shut Seattles offense down, and I think this coverage was a big part of it. (that and the ridiculous pressure on Wilson)

6) I think Kaepernick is a remarkable talent, and is going to be a terrific QB for probably the next decade (injury notwithstanding). That being said, i would take Wilson 8 days a week over him. I'm sure every Seattle fan would agree with me, and every 49er fan would 100% disagree with me, which is exactly how it should be among fan bases about their QB's. The observation that solidifies this for me though was watching CK last night. He gets rattled. Two years in a row now, he has come apart in Seattle. Granted he has not even played in a full season yet, so it may/should change, but I would be very unnerved by what I saw last night if I were a SF fan. Weird, I don't recall seeing anything like that in the playoffs last year, and they were getting one put on them in the Super Bowl before the power outtage, and he seemed to keep his composure. Maybe it's just trips to Seattle? But there's something there you don't want to see in your QB. Wilson was completely shut down last night as well, and I was happy to see him maintain his demeanor, and take what the defense was giving him, which unfortunately was almost next to nothing. He is steady in every situation, in every game, including down 20-0 on the road in a hostile environment in the divisional round of the playoffs. Nothing ever changes with the guy. I don't mean for this to be another CK vs. Wilson thread, but just an observation from last night that solidified my opinion (which oddly enough is actually worth a hill of beans).

7) Lynch is far and away my favorite player in the league to watch. I've always loved watching power backs, but I don't ever remember seeing someone that runs as angry as he does. Especially against SF. Anyway, this got me to thinking about a RB comparison, and not saying it's the case (yet), but I'm wondering if Gore may have run into the inevitable wall. He has always put one on Seattle. At a minimum he's always good for 5 or 6 12-15 yard back breakers. Last night, coupled with his game last week, and I'm beginning to wonder if he's slowed down a tick. Which in the NFL usually cost you your job as a RB. I'll be curious to see what they do with the workload this season, and if he starts to share more carries throughout the year.

8) Ok I'm officially tired of the 12th man rhetoric. I was at the game with the fam last night screaming my arse off, and the CLink was a terrific spectacle. Leave it at that. I have gotten so tired of, and now it almost embarrasses me that every single article, or interview has to mention the crowd noise. Sure the Guiness Record is cool. Now let it die. I can't handle it when a player or coach is getting interviewed and one of the first questions they as is about the crowd?!?! These guys just played their guts out, and they are getting asked about the crowd? It's like they've gotten it so twisted that they think the players are supporting the crowd rather than the other way around.

9) Hopefully last nights game can help put a stop to some of the ridiculous fan logic. Seattle barely beat Carolina, San Fran killed GB, therefore San Fran should kill Seattle. Injuries, game plans, weather, travel, familiarity, personnel, and just weird luck make these comparisons almost completely useless. That being said, Seattle beat SF by 26 points, and it counts as exactly 1 win. For SF it is exactly 1 loss. 100 points or 1 point, win is a win, loss is a loss. In the NFL nobody cares about margain of victory, or style points. Do you think New England is feeling sorry for beating Buffalo by only 2 points last week? 14 more weeks to go, and a LOT can and will change. I thought Seattle fans were over reactionary, but some of you guys are ready to go over the cliff. This will make the December 8th game that much more entertaining.

Originally posted by tarheelniner:
In spite of all the great potential, CK is essentially a rookie. Without a running game, we are relying on a rookie QB and a limited receiver corps to beat the best pass defense in the league. Wonder why this happened? RUN THE ROCK!

100% agree.

Originally posted by maltz88:

6) I think Kaepernick is a remarkable talent, and is going to be a terrific QB for probably the next decade (injury notwithstanding). That being said, i would take Wilson 8 days a week over him. I'm sure every Seattle fan would agree with me, and every 49er fan would 100% disagree with me, which is exactly how it should be among fan bases about their QB's. The observation that solidifies this for me though was watching CK last night. He gets rattled. Two years in a row now, he has come apart in Seattle. Granted he has not even played in a full season yet, so it may/should change, but I would be very unnerved by what I saw last night if I were a SF fan. Weird, I don't recall seeing anything like that in the playoffs last year, and they were getting one put on them in the Super Bowl before the power outtage, and he seemed to keep his composure. Maybe it's just trips to Seattle? But there's something there you don't want to see in your QB. Wilson was completely shut down last night as well, and I was happy to see him maintain his demeanor, and take what the defense was giving him, which unfortunately was almost next to nothing. He is steady in every situation, in every game, including down 20-0 on the road in a hostile environment in the divisional round of the playoffs. Nothing ever changes with the guy. I don't mean for this to be another CK vs. Wilson thread, but just an observation from last night that solidified my opinion (which oddly enough is actually worth a hill of beans).

Nice post man, but I had to single out this part. Kap is not the type of QB to get rattled. I know you might think that's false based on 2 games at CLink, but his struggles there have mainly been due to our coaches' inability to gameplan for your defense. I cannot for the life of me figure out why we don't use more 3 and 4 WR formations to stop you guys from loading the box. You shut down the run, and your awesome secondary can lockdown 2 WRs on their own with no problem.

Keep in mind, Wilson looked rattled for a large portion of the game as well. He's not immune to struggles, because we made him look bad that 1st half. The difference was you guys used 3 and 4 WR formations, creating some more room in the run game, and eventually that opened things up a bit. Kap was put in a difficult spot. Runs on early downs were ineffective and he's forced to convert 3rd and long when nobody is open.

This is a schematic issue, not a QB issue. You said it yourself, you've seen Kap play other teams and he doesn't get rattled. The fact of the matter is you guys match up very well with what Harbaugh wants to do on offense, and he is too stubborn to change.

Originally posted by tarheelniner:
In spite of all the great potential, CK is essentially a rookie. Without a running game, we are relying on a rookie QB and a limited receiver corps to beat the best pass defense in the league. Wonder why this happened? RUN THE ROCK!

Run the rock intelligently.

The run game was pretty predictable. Again.

Originally posted by socal9er42:

Originally posted by tarheelniner:

In spite of all the great potential, CK is essentially a rookie. Without a running game, we are relying on a rookie QB and a limited receiver corps to beat the best pass defense in the league. Wonder why this happened? RUN THE ROCK!

Run the rock intelligently.

The run game was pretty predictable. Again.

Thats why Hunter needs to be more involved. Gore is a one trick pony now. Bashing his way up the middle. We need Hunter, and James when hes healthy, to run to the outsides and make some plays. IMO we have the best pull blocking Guard's in the NFL. Plodding up the gut is doing the other team a favor.