Wide receivers ARE getting open!

First I want to say hi. I am a lifelong niner fan and never missed a game in my life. I have visited the webzone daily and sometimes hourly to check in on my team. I was not around to be a fan in the glory days and unfortunately had to endure 7-8 years of losing but I've cheered on as always. I want to say it is great that we have finally found a winning coaching staff, no matter how much I may scream at them. The past 2 years have been like nothing I've ever experienced before. Some incredible wins,we've become a legitimate playoff contender, and some hard losses. This organization has a bright future and I hope this will be just the beginning of my generations long and prosperous glory days!

Now, about all this talk that our wide receivers are not getting open. I rewatched the cardinals game because I couldn't watch it as in depth as I wanted to sunday due to me watching it at my brother's place. What I noticed was that Jon Baldwin actually got WIDE OPEN quite a few times and Colin Kaepernick never even looked toward him. Instead he tried to force it into Boldin or Davis. I was just curios if anyone else saw this? Now I know he is known for not having great hands coming out of Kansas but so far he has caught every ball thrown his way for us. So I think the coaches have Kaepernick making only 2 reads each passing play and 95 percent of the time those two reads are Vernon Davis and Boldin. To be fair they give us the most chances of making plays but the quarterback play has been dulled down to make it easier for Kap.

Sorry if this sounds like a rant, I'm not used to posting on forums. I just want us to improve our passing game, because I do not think we can go very far with the way our offense has been playing. We can only rely on our defense, as well as gore, boldin, and davis so much until defenses learn to stop us. And I want Kap to improve on his reads because at this rate even if manningham and crab do come back it probably would not make that big an impact. Once again, sorry for ranting, I just do not want to hear our receivers don't get open anymore. I know it was just one game, but I'm going to start taking a closer look at Baldwin and our other receivers to see if they are getting open more.

Anyway, Go Niners!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Deliver Ring Six Baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

on the thursday note game vs rams they showed in replays bruce miller and vernon davis getting open for big gains but the throw wasnt made...balke supposedly got upset and said Throw the damn ball....so you may be right

Another poster in the forum made a very good point on this, the receiver needs to be open at the right TIME otherwise it's pointless. The time they are open must match the play call and the QB drop back and read timing otherwise he's onto the next read, and that poster was right.

Doesn't matter if Baldwin is 10 yards open if it's 3 seconds after he's supposed to be, Kap might already have moved on to check other side of the field.

Play design might be an issue in this case....

Originally posted by Buchy:
Another poster in the forum made a very good point on this, the receiver needs to be open at the right TIME otherwise it's pointless. The time they are open must match the play call and the QB drop back and read timing otherwise he's onto the next read, and that poster was right.

Doesn't matter if Baldwin is 10 yards open if it's 3 seconds after he's supposed to be, Kap might already have moved on to check other side of the field.

Play design might be an issue in this case....

Obviously Greg Roman is copying plays of madden and installing them into the actual playbook, lazy phuck prolly spends the rest of his day eating pizza and jerking it to 2011 niner posts calling him GOAT OC EVER!

That's a really good point that I did not think of Buchy. What bothered me though is Kap never even looked his way. It's different if he made the read and Baldwin was not open at the time of his read, but Kap seems to have 2 primary reads, Boldin and V. Davis and tries to force it in instead of going to a 3rd read that may be open. One play in particular stood out to me though. It was a 3rd down and Baldwin was running a crossing route that would have went for a first down and he was open the Entire time of the route but Kap never looked at him and just kept his eyes downfield towards Davis and boldin whose routes were on the same side of the field. Either way it is definitely a good point to consider and I'm just super happy that Kap and V. Davis are starting to cash in on the chemistry they built during offseason. Heres hoping they can keep it up because our offense is explosive when Davis is one on one with a defender and making plays.

People forget our QB is still a kid who just completed his first full season worth of starts. The whole "leading us to the SB" thing makes you forget, but hes still learning. Hes going to miss open receivers, rely on only his favorites, and hesitate in the pocket. Be patient, hes going to be one of the very best in the business someday soon.

He needs to work on trusting his WR to be where the ball is going. He just doesnt have the reps with Williams or Baldwin yet. He doesnt trust them to be there. He trusts Boldin and Davis, which is why he tries to force balls their way over taking a chance at a potentially open Jon Baldwin.

He also needs to step up in the pocket and throw (or run). Hes gotten into a bad habit of running backwards toward the sidelines and throwing off his back leg. Maybe his foot issue is causing this, but he'll be fine.

Originally posted by Buchy:
Another poster in the forum made a very good point on this, the receiver needs to be open at the right TIME otherwise it's pointless. The time they are open must match the play call and the QB drop back and read timing otherwise he's onto the next read, and that poster was right.

Doesn't matter if Baldwin is 10 yards open if it's 3 seconds after he's supposed to be, Kap might already have moved on to check other side of the field.

Play design might be an issue in this case....

This. If the QB has gone through his progression and already passed that receiver, he can be as open as he wants. The way defenses are playing the 49ers is loading up on the pass rush, jamming the receivers at the line of scrimmage and trying to pressure Kaepernick to get rid of it quickly, before his receivers have had a chance to create separation. Kaepernick doesn't have the time to go back and forth, with the way pressure is getting to him, he's got a brief window to make a throw before he ends up getting buried into the turf.


I can say Baldwin is doing a better job of getting separation than Williams did, but its still enough, aside from VD, 49ers don't really have anyone who's flat out beating the defensive back off the line of scrimmage and getting at least a couple steps on them.

Originally posted by Niners99:
People forget our QB is still a kid who just completed his first full season worth of starts. The whole "leading us to the SB" thing makes you forget, but hes still learning. Hes going to miss open receivers, rely on only his favorites, and hesitate in the pocket. Be patient, hes going to be one of the very best in the business someday soon.

He needs to work on trusting his WR to be where the ball is going. He just doesnt have the reps with Williams or Baldwin yet. He doesnt trust them to be there. He trusts Boldin and Davis, which is why he tries to force balls their way over taking a chance at a potentially open Jon Baldwin.

He also needs to step up in the pocket and throw (or run). Hes gotten into a bad habit of running backwards toward the sidelines and throwing off his back leg. Maybe his foot issue is causing this, but he'll be fine.

Good post, Niners99.

Its like many have said, he misses a few, as they all do, but there is also a question what the play calls for which we are not privy too. Sometimes the play calls for the guy to be open sooner or later than he is and Kap isnt to that spot in his reads, sometimes a route exists purely as a decoy or to clear out a defender and becomes an after thought until the play breaks down..sometimes your QB is on the move and despite the fact that a guy is open the immediate threat of the rush or positioning of bodies blocks his view. That is why its for frustrating for many of us that people here latched on to one comment on one play from a commentator that they actually bash most weeks for being reactionary...because small sample sizes lead to bad science.

If I am Baldwin and I am getting open I have to alert Kap and demand the ball. WRs lobby for the ball all the time. First though Baldwin must gain Kap trust through after practice work and game day production. When he gets a target he needs to deliver and then let the DB and his QB know about it. Then he needs to instruct Kap to feed him. Kap is new to this so he will look to people he trusts. If Baldwin or anyone else is going to break through they need to get Kap attention and make their presence felt. I would like to see this from Baldwin and Vance

Kali49er, great post. I agree with you all the way. Me and my friends have been talking about this. He's been open quite a bit since the rams game. Kap is a lock on one wide out QB. 1st it was Crabs, then Boldin now most logical VD. As much as Vernon is my favorite Niner. We're going to have to start getting the ball to Baldwin especially with VD and Boldin double/triple teamed. Baldwin 6'4 235 pounds fast with a 42 freakin inch vertical and he gets single coverage every snap. Dude Kaps needs to get it together!

The only game I've been fortunate enough to attend this year was the St. Louis game and I can tell you that receivers were definitely NOT getting open. Kap needs to pay better no doubt but this WR corp is subpar at best.

Agreed, this was dispelled in the CK thread with video analysis and screen shots (even in the podcast). Right now, the bigger issue is the TYPE of offense we run more than anything. If you are looking at the "big picture" you will see many guys open somewhere in their routes but this is a college offense, the anti-WCO (sorry to sound like a broken record here but ppl still aren't getting this)...this is an offense designed to get ONE receiver the ball while the other receivers clear out space, block down field with the ball in the air, become decoys (i.e. Moss, Kilgore/Miller split out wide, etc.). The issue is, if that primary receiver IS covered, CK has no real built-in outlets like a WCO has. In fact, if that read is covered, CK is off and running. This is why we needed a more "mobile" QB (and Smith was a very mobile QB).

So again, the WR's are NOT the issue here...they ARE getting open if you're watching from the sky box (or coaches film). Watch any Niner passing play, see where the ball goes and then rewind and watch the other WR's. You'll all see them "play their part." Further evidence was highighted in our game plan last week...plays designed to get VD and Boldin the ball with a combined 11 catches whereas Williams, Baldwin, Miller, McDonald and Dixon all only had 1 catch each.

This is the trend/game plan every game!

Originally posted by 49ersHeroine:
Kali49er, great post. I agree with you all the way. Me and my friends have been talking about this. He's been open quite a bit since the rams game. Kap is a lock on one wide out QB. 1st it was Crabs, then Boldin now most logical VD. As much as Vernon is my favorite Niner. We're going to have to start getting the ball to Baldwin especially with VD and Boldin double/triple teamed. Baldwin 6'4 235 pounds fast with a 42 freakin inch vertical and he gets single coverage every snap. Dude Kaps needs to get it together!

I don't get the love for measurables around here. Baldwin gets zero separation. You don't just throw up a lob every time you get single coverage. Baldwin may have a 42" vertical but he has zero ball skills. NONE. You act like its comparable to throwing one up to Julio or Calvin. Those are the type of WR's you throw one up to in single coverage. Those guys you can count on to make a play. Baldwin has shown nothing. He hasn't even shown he can make uncontested catches and you want to start throwing up jump balls to him? Aside from his size and slight ability to get off press coverage he's worthless. As soon as Manningham is healthy, Baldwin is heading straight to the bench.