Originally posted by NinerGM:
1. Gore has been running great and on 3rd and 1 yard you bring in Hunter to get the one yard. Fumble lost, ends drive.
Hunter's job is to spell Gore. It's not Roman who fumbles the ball. Hunter can fumble the ball at any time as has Gore. If you think Hunter is so bad that he can't do his job of spelling Gore like he has been for the past 2.5 seasons, then come out and say on record you want him cut.
2. 1st and 10 on the 14 towards the end of the 2nd, you call a slant pass to Boldin that completes for 9 yards. You follow that up with a play call that hasn't worked on time all game; zone-read formation, play-action pass attempt to a deep receiver. As usual, pass protection doesn't hold, Kap is chased and tackled for a huge lose. It's 3rd and 14 and you call a screen to Kyle Williams that goes for 9 yards. Tell me what's wrong with this series.
Your offense is a running offense, teams gameplan against the running. Why would you not call play action plays, especially on 2nd and 1 when everyone assumes you're running? You point out that this certain type of pass play hasn't worked all game but really when your pass offense is dead last in the league do ANY passing plays "work?" At some point the QB takes some responsibility for that no? Yes, you can call plays based on what worked for a grand total of two times just like you can call plays based on scheme and based on what you think their defense is expecting.
Screen on 3rd and 14 is not a bad call. The problem you and Roman-blamers is that your reasoning for everything is just "it didn't work." Screens are sensible when you are expecting a blitz (and the Panthers had been blitzing quite a lot) because the rushers are all gunning for the QB but your whole line is moving to set up the side the screen is happening. Blitzers are theoretically caught off guard when the quick pass goes out and the blockers keep the rushers from pursuing the receiver. No, it didn't work there and that sucked but there is nothing INHERENTLY wrong with a screen pass in that situation.
3. Gore has 12 carries 61 yards at the half. For the remainder of the game Gore has 3 carries for 9 yards?
Three carries is quite a bit low which I agree with completely, but you would expect to see less runs when so many of those drives started with penalties and sacks for major loss on 1st down.
4. 2 slants called the entire passing game; one to Boldin for 9 yards, one to Manningham for 8 yards but was called back for a "pick" by Boldin. The offense would never call another slant.
I won't lie and say I watched the game so closely that I know for sure that only 2 slants were called all game. Not saying you are, and if you're right than perhaps more are what the doctor ordered.
5. The one pass option that was consistently open all game; RB out of the backfield over the middle - this was thrown no more than 3x, never to Hunter, never to LMJ who is all-world in space (which is the reason why he's so good with punt returns).
I'm not sure if you're saying the RBs got loose and weren't thrown to or there were too few plays that called for RBs to run receiving routes out of the backfield. If it is the former, than Roman should've thrown....oh wait I mean Kaep should've thrown to them. If it is the latter, the decision has to do with blitz pickup. You already lost Vernon Davis, the best blocking TE in the league, and not leaving your back in to pickup the blitz is dangerous especially when the blitz has already busted so many pass plays.
6.We have 3 of the better running backs all on the same team yet in our offensive sets, never 2 are on the field at the same time; and you almost never see LMJ as a receiver (despite being a punt returner which requires catching skills).
Not to overstate my last point, but when you consider how poor the offense responded to blitzes today, taking out the FB to put in two RBs is a really bad idea. If Hunter and LMJ were as good as Gore in blitz pickup, sure, but everytime the defense sees two RBs in the backfield they have to be salivating at the process of rushing more than four. Now, just like for your 5th point, if Kaepernick had shown any ability to make the quick throw after hiking to beat the blitz, then sure run more RBs out past the LOS and get some quick yards. Unfortunately, Kaepernick couldn't see a blitz coming if a neon sign saying "BLITZ COMING" was in his face, so you really trust him to do any better with less blockers in the pocket?
These are the 6 examples I could think of from memory. I'm sure other Zoners have others.
At the very least these call Roman's play-calling into question. At the very worst it begs the question if Harbaugh will do something about a recurring problem where we stop running, have not short to intermediate passing game, and if the coaches are encouraging Kap to take the big play at every opportunity vs. taking what the D gives him. In any event, someone isn't getting the message through and it's clear Colin isn't prepared or the offensive scheme didn't assume Carolina could generate the pressure it did. The game plan never changed. Plays that didn't work in the 1st Q, we were still running in the 3rd as if we didn't try it the first 15 times without success. Insanity.
It's easy to blame the play-caller and say the calls were bad because they didn't work. The problem is you need players to make them work. If there's any problem with the coaching staff it's maybe not coaching Kaepernick to be a better QB than he is right now.