2013 - Week 8: Thoughts after rewatching the game.

Clock manangement needs to be fixed (like others have mentioned). If we go on the road in the playoffs it will be lound, and we can't burn valuable timeouts because we aren't paying attention. I would like to see Kap run a no huddle and audible his plays to see how fast he can get it going. And the low sack numbers are a concern. Only way to rattle a qb is to hit him.

Originally posted by Ninefan56:
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.

I disagree with that one.

1) He's playing with a bum shoulder
2) He only had 3 sacks LAST year.

He's never going to be a double digit sack guy...that's not his game. I think he'll be better after the bye and when Aldon comes back.

Originally posted by jreff22:
Clock manangement needs to be fixed (like others have mentioned). If we go on the road in the playoffs it will be lound, and we can't burn valuable timeouts because we aren't paying attention. I would like to see Kap run a no huddle and audible his plays to see how fast he can get it going. And the low sack numbers are a concern. Only way to rattle a qb is to hit him.

They tried that in Seattle. Didn't work so well.

As much as some people don't want to hear it, but pass rush is a legitimate concern right now. Wasn't impressive at all yesterday and we're lucky it was just the Jags and Henne because if we were playing against Brees, he'd be picking us apart all day long. Hopefully Tank and Aldon will be back after the BYE which will be HUGE for our pass rush. Yes, we DO miss Aldon very, very much right now. No doubt.

Great work as usual!

Originally posted by cciowa:
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,

This is a very good point. The 49ers do seem to be jumping on teams and punishing them early.

The only reason Kyle Williams is on this team is the injuries currently to Crabtree, Manningham, and Patton. They need a live body that knows the system. But his play has been poor. He is a non factor in the passing game despite seeing a lot of the field. He had a fumble, a muffed punt, and ran out of bounds at the 3 or 4 yard line on another return. Every kick return is an adventure with him and not in a good way.

Originally posted by Marvin49:
As I said before...that's because snapping the ball with very little time is done on purpose.

My major concern here is that Kaepernick doesn't recognize that he needs to call a time-out when the clock is going to expire. When is the last time he did that? It is always Harbaugh or in yesterday's game it was Boldin. Never the QB. Disconcerting.

Originally posted by Marvin49:

2) Kyle Williams: ......ok.....I've been defending this kid since those fumbles in the 2011 NFC Championship Game. He's got some physical ability...but the mental aspect of the game is clearly escaping him. He makes bad decisions. He doesn't secure the ball. In the grand scheme of things it meant almost nothing....but the kick return at the end of the game was my last straw. That was one of the dumbest things I've seen in a LONG time. His head wasn't in it. There was ZERO excuse for that. I'm finally on the "get rid of Kyle Williams" bandwagon. At the very least, my expectation is that Kyle will be inactive and we'll begin to see alot more of LaMichael James.

I'd hate to see Dixon go. He does everything on a hyper-enthusiasm level and does it well. If he is traded, it hopefully will be for a big benefit.

When Hunter comes in he is always given the ball and sent outside. It is surprising that he ever gains a yard. His losses seem to be when the blockers cannot block all eight guys congregating on his obvious route.

Williams...He wants to succeed and he must also know that the fan base wants him gone and that must be a terrible thing for him. It would be nice if he went to another team, lost the pressure and succeeded and could end his career that way.

Never, ever run the Prevent a Win defense again or I will be really, really mad. It is to be employed only for 4th and 79 to go on the last play of the game.

CK's stats are vastly underrated. His receivers are almost never open and there are no easy screens or rumbling tight ends underneath to help him out. He has to throw it 90 mph into tight spaces down-field time after time. Half the time it is to Bolding who isn't even open.


In the end, QB ratings, all stats really, are bogus. So much depends on things beyond the player's control. You pretty much have to observe someone. We see great players on sucky teams in all sports and we know they are great despite the stats they can never put up. I have been around awhile, have seen a lot of QBs and never have I ever seen one who had the potential of CK. Size, speed, arm strength, mental ability, leadership...and this after one season of starts. If he was on a well-coached pass-first team with a terrific receiving corps he would have spectacular stats right now. If he was not being stuck in the pocket and was allowed to simply go for it without restrictions, he would be amazing right now, here. He is actually being throttled with the role he is being given, the play calling and the ability of the receivers who get the playing time (so far).

Watching KC a couple of times it was amazing that here is Smith, same Alex really, throwing short, throwing it away, running right...you know...yet most of the time there was someone 5-10 yards away open as can be. That rarely was the case here. Mystifying that the short passing game is not used, aside from a few to Miller and guys coming back from downfield to help.

At the same time, Boldin is amazing. Never open, but he screens out the defender and can catch CK's bullets with his hands. Not everyone appreciates how hard this is!

Watching Welker...what a great option he is. Thinking LMJ could do that. It would really mess up defenses. We would see an occasional spectacular play I'll bet.

It certainly will be interesting to see the injured and disabled guys come back. The Niner staff is inventive in terms of lining people up at times, but very cautious in substitution patterns. Hopefully the depth will be what we think it is and actually used.

Another appreciative reader of your posts. Do try to hurry them out though. Like my kids used to say "We are WAITING".

Regressing Guard

One of the biggest reasons why the 49ers' running game was nearly unstoppable last season was the play of left guard Mike Iupati. The former first rounder had the second-best run blocking grade among guards and consistently provided push up the field. He just hasn't quite been at the same level this season, however, and it showed Sunday. Sen'Derrick Marks and Tyson Alualu both played upon Iupati's biggest weakness, his quickness, to beat him on multiple occasions. The most notable example came at 4:43 in the third quarter when Iupati didn't pull fast enough to kick out Marks before he stopped Frank Gore for no gain. For the day he ceded three defensive stops and allowed two pressures for a grade of -3.7 to bring his overall grade to -5.4 for the season.

from Pro Football focus

Quick Passing Game

It was clear that Chad Henne (-2.5) and the Jaguars' offense thought they had their best chance of winning with a short, quick passing game. His average depth of target was 5.3 yards, 2.9 yards lower than his season average heading into the game. Henne would target as many passes behind the line of scrimmage, 11, as passes that traveled over 10 yards in the air. His 2.31 average time to throw was also by far his quickest of any start this season.

They ran into multiples problems along their way. The first was that the run game wasn't able to regularly provide favorable down and distances. Then Henne was just too inconsistent to sustain a drive. He completed just 64% of his passes from 1-10 yards whereas the league average is over 70%. It wasn't just the incompletions though, there were many times Henne limited YAC possibilities with throws behind receivers or slightly off-target.


From Pro Football Focus and may be the reason the 49ers got little pressure and no sacks yesterday.

Originally posted by Marvin49:
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.

I understand the intent, and if they value late adjustments (and the inability to do so in a loud stadium), over retaining their precious timeouts ... then we are good

Should the 49ers just incorporate the no huddle offense? They always seem to be changing the play at the line but by huddling up they don't have a lot of time to work with. I would like them to give the no huddle a shot to stop all those wasted TOs.