2013 - Week 8: Thoughts after rewatching the game.

shout out to the guys who have filled in for the walking wounded, they have done a fine fine job, aside from kyle, shout out to lee dawson(who people hated in week one) and overall special teams,,, sure it was a bad team but we did what elite teams are supposed to do to those teams, we start fast, we take them out early, we do not let them THINK they can beat us. we did not do that last year to the rams and we saw what took place,, this is a very under rated intangible for this team,

I agree. Kap good. Kyle bad. Nice post.

I just hope the wide receivers, other than Boldin, start to get open. Hopefully Manningham can do this.

Great work as always...

I may be the only person to be in the "QBR" camp, but I think that stat has accurately depicted Kaep's last two games - outstanding.

It's only a little thing, but I love how Boldin recognized the time was expiring and called a TO... He's a great addition, on all fronts!!

It's about time Marvin...geesh. Waited all morning. Ha! Great positive write-up and any concerns are always valid (those tend to be exposed against much better teams).

5) Yeah, not sure if it's scheme or what but Skuta doesn't rush much, Brooks is in coverage a ton, we rarely ever rush Willis/Bowman and the DL is certainly nicked up. Granted, we may be "saving them" something even Roman alludes too but bring on the reserves and let's lose the excuses!

6) 6-2! And rolling. This is about where most fans had us. We have 3 tough games coming out of the break (2 away games on the East Coast) so we better have our A-game ready. Seattle has THE easiest schedule ever down this stretch. Even their hardest game (besides us), the Saints, is at home after a bye-week. No room for error here if we want that #1 seed and take it away from SeAdderal.

8) Yeah, they were saying our RZ defense was worst in the NFL. Really? That doesn't help when your own RZ offense isn't very good either, right? In the end, it's all about stopping the points and scoring as many as you can in the RZ. Total yards mean nothing. This is an area we need to work on for both units.

PS: Reid is unbelievable for so many reasons. The second he steps out, it's a trainwreck out there so let's pray for a healthy year from him!

I always come to Niner Talk after the game looking for your "thoughts" post... Good stuff Marv. Appreciate the good read...

Pass rush pass rush pass rush... Thats the only concern I see from this game. Yes we didn't really need to scheme up a lot of exotic blitzes to beat the Jags, we were content on letting their inept play help win the game for us. Buuuuuut when our guys can't at least win a one on one match once or twice throughout the game that is concerning. Not gonna cut it playing against a legit QB.

One thing to add about Kaepernick is that in the last two weeks Roman has been using CK in a similar fashion as last season. Maybe the play calling is evolving or maybe Kaepernick is making better decisions on when to run, but it is working. If this keeps up, the dual threat of Kaepernick and Gore on the ground may soon open up the WR's a bit. When Kaepernick is strictly a drop back passer he is good, but you are limiting him to 50-60% of his arsenal.

The run game; 221 yards on the ground against Jacksonville and it looked fantastic. Discounting for opposition it is still a noteworthy progression for this team. No matter how well we play on offense passing the ball, it seems to me our big offensive lineman are most effective when they are given the opportunity to throw their weight around a bit and wear opponents down.

Originally posted by Marvin49:


5) Pass Rush: STILL a concern. I've read other here say "sacks aren't the only way to pressure". I'm sorry, but we are watching different games. They aren't getting that much pressure either. When they ARE getting pressure it is very often because they are being forced to Blitz...something they don't like to do. One of the biggest strengths of this defense over the last few years has been their ability to get pressure with 4 and drop 7. If they have to manufacture pressue (IE, blitz), QBs like Drew Brees will find the open man 99% of the time. I like Lemonier. Skuta has played well...but lets not sit here and pretend we don't miss Aldon. Are the Niners 5-0 without him? Yes. Has the defense played well? Yes. Are they "just fine" without him. NO. I applaud the 49ers for keeping it together in his absense, but they are a FAR better D with him in the game...particularly when these teams start going pass happy at the end of games. Hopefully he's got his crap together and can make a significant contribution down the stretch.

Agreed...some people act like you just kicked their dog if you happen to mention the pass rush hasn't been getting it done lately. Yes, stats can be misleading, but in this case they are an accurate indicator. In the past 4 games, 160+ pass attempts and only 5 sacks...3 came in the lone game where they consistently got pressure, which was last week vs. Titans. And as you pointed out, these were games where from the 3rd qtr on the 49ers have had sizeable leads where they know the other team is passing, yet they're not consistently generating pressure. You don't have to have 4-5 sacks per game, but at least give me multiple hurries and hits.

With or without Aldon Smith, I do think the 49ers are going to have to blitz more. Not become blitz-happy, but trust the improved secondary and bring pressure on occasion off the edges, or up the middle with Bowman/Willis.

And yeah, LMJ needs to be returning kicks and KW needs to go.

One pet peeve for me. They burned another time out early in the 1st quarter, and another that Boldin called (and was mentioned a few posts back). I cringe every time I hear Kaep yell "Kill', with 5 seconds on the play clock. This has been an issue for years. Why can't they get it fixed? Also, they are still obviously relying on QB reads and audible adjustments at the line. So when they are in New Orleans, or Seattle again the same old problem will be worse.

Good points as always Marvin, I really enjoy your posts.

My comments on the game are similar but less intricate. I think that Cowboy is on the last legs of his game. Hopefully Carradine will come out and learn from Cowboy before he retires. Saw a little of Dial in the second half and he is still trying to figure out where and what to do. So far he just takes up space and has offered nothing important for us but hopefully he is getting some reps and learning. I thought I saw some pressures and some hits on the QB. Bowman is an awsome pass rusher when he is focusing on the QB and not on the RB. Lemonier is still learning and looks like he will be a great number two pass rusher at least for this year. Brooks did not seem interested in getting to the QB. None the less the Niners took care of business, not as polished as we would like it but got it done.

I thought the play to Miller said just about the whole game - creative, successful, and kept people aware of the other players besides Davis and Boldin. I did not see McDonald get any throws to him. Davis and Boldin are wonderful receivers. Hopefully Manningham and then Crabtree will solve some of these peripheral WR problems. Williams is not a NFL caliber player. I would suspect that we will see him gone by the time the bye is over.

I though the run game was very consistent and was firing on all cylinders including Hunter. Gore played well in all phases and Kaep got some good runs in and we got four touchdowns out of the running game.

Special teams again focused on Williams. I think Dixon would be better than Williams as kick returner and punt returner especially if the goal is to get fair catches. It will be interesting to see how Harbaugh solves the punt returning issue before dealing with Carolina.

Defense over all handled their business. Pass rush is a concern but with the opponent they had they just had to contain enough and win the game - mission accomplished and no one got hurt.

Backfield got the job done. I still like Brock's aggressiveness but he got burned but still hopefully he learned. Almost had another interception and again overall they got the job done.

Final Observations - Still not enough screen passes to people like Hunter which I think would be great. Did not get McDonald into the passing game. Poor pass rush but Lemonier is getting reps which is good for us in the long run. Lots of unsettled people do to the people coming back. So lots of changes in the next two weeks. Still looking to get us fully jelled and ready for the final push. Lots of difficult games coming up especially Carolina, New Orleans, and Seattle. We will make the playoffs unless Kaep get hurt and then all bets are off.

Originally posted by Bluesbro:
One pet peeve for me. They burned another time out early in the 1st quarter, and another that Boldin called (and was mentioned a few posts back). I cringe every time I hear Kaep yell "Kill', with 5 seconds on the play clock. This has been an issue for years. Why can't they get it fixed? Also, they are still obviously relying on QB reads and audible adjustments at the line. So when they are in New Orleans, or Seattle again the same old problem will be worse.

Its kinda done on purpose so I think it'll always be something of a problem. They intentionally shift and make calls that late to force the D to declare.

Originally posted by Bluesbro:
One pet peeve for me. They burned another time out early in the 1st quarter, and another that Boldin called (and was mentioned a few posts back). I cringe every time I hear Kaep yell "Kill', with 5 seconds on the play clock. This has been an issue for years. Why can't they get it fixed? Also, they are still obviously relying on QB reads and audible adjustments at the line. So when they are in New Orleans, or Seattle again the same old problem will be worse.

Getting to the line of scrimmage quicker would help some, but this has been a problem ever since Harbaugh became the head coach.

I still think it has been better this year, but still....

Originally posted by buck:

Originally posted by Bluesbro:
One pet peeve for me. They burned another time out early in the 1st quarter, and another that Boldin called (and was mentioned a few posts back). I cringe every time I hear Kaep yell "Kill', with 5 seconds on the play clock. This has been an issue for years. Why can't they get it fixed? Also, they are still obviously relying on QB reads and audible adjustments at the line. So when they are in New Orleans, or Seattle again the same old problem will be worse.

Getting to the line of scrimmage quicker would help some, but this has been a problem ever since Harbaugh became the head coach.

I still think it has been better this year, but still....

As I said before...that's because snapping the ball with very little time is done on purpose.