No need to panic: 49ers will be fine

Originally posted by monsterzero789:
6-4 after next weekend

YEP!

Originally posted by Buchy:

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.
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.
3. Gore has 12 carries 61 yards at the half. For the remainder of the game Gore has 3 carries for 9 yards?
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.
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).
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).

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.

Just wanted to pick up on this as well, because beyond my frustrations at our scheme, this is bang on in terms of our coaching mindset and lack of adjustment. We don't make any adjustments on our offense at half time it seems, we just keep plowing away with whatever Roman has written down. We're so predictable, and we get caught up in this weird macho bullheadedness where we keep banging our head against the brick wall and think it's going to crack before we do, ignoring the fact the thing is 10 feet thick and reinforced. We never use guile, and that depresses me as I grew up in the 80's watching the franchise that defined out thinking your opponents. We were tough and smart, unfortunately under Harbaugh and Roman at the moment we're just tough but there are tougher teams out there.

I think Harbaugh is smart enough now though to spot the pattern, and a few of us have picked up on it. We ar elosing in the same way to a number of teams that can match us up front. We run out of ideas and lose, getting out coached and then next game we run it over some weak team in shambles and think everything is fine.

It may be too late this season but I expect major changes in the off season if we don't do what the Ravens did. I'll be honest, I would actually fire Roman at this stage because he doesn't know enough of the passing game to take us any further. We've reached our ceiling with Roman as the coordinator and we need some major strategy/philosophy changes to our offense to take us to the next level.

This is my concern here. There were so many times he could have checked it down and would have gained positive yards yet he decided to try and get the big play. Just because you have a big arm doesn't mean you'll always have the big play. After last season, defenses know Kaep has a big arm so they are keeping the safeties dep and stacking the box. One of the frustrations is even though they stack the box Gore can still gain yardage BUT AGAIN they went away from running the ball in the 2nd half. Another frustration is Kaep had checkdowns open but did not even look at those reads, well if he's even looking at more than 1-2 reads. Quick slants, screens....those are the type of calls that could have gotten better production. Add in the playcalling and it was just another formula for a loss.

How we're gonna beat the Saints in the dome playing like this is beyond me. We're no longer playing for the division, we're going to be lucky to get a wildcard. There are so many other teams with our record that are better on offense.

Originally posted by Rascal:

Originally posted by monsterzero789:
6-4 after next weekend

I guess we will be on track for a 10-6 season then as I had predicted when everyone laid into me.

We're not winning the division, thats for sure. That talk is pretty much over. The game against the Hawks means nothing except for bragging rights, but even then its not bragging anymore because they win the division most likely.

Originally posted by Baldie:

Originally posted by Rascal:

Originally posted by monsterzero789:
6-4 after next weekend

I guess we will be on track for a 10-6 season then as I had predicted when everyone laid into me.

We're not winning the division, thats for sure. That talk is pretty much over. The game against the Hawks means nothing except for bragging rights, but even then its not bragging anymore because they win the division most likely.

Oh for me, NFC West was long gone cos I said it long ago there will be no way we can beat the Seahawks, be it at CLink or at the Stick. Just can't see it. They are just a far better team than the 9ers in all areas, perhaps with the exception of O-line. Other than that, they are younger, more physical and far tougher. Not only will we lose this game, I can bet you our injuries will pile up after this game just as they always have since last Dec's game. Once again, I hope I am wrong, but if I am not, I just hope at least we won't get completely blown out of the water again. However, somehow, something is telling me we will absolutely get killed and creamed on once more.

Forty years of being a 49er fan, and I shall panic if I like.



This is not Madden, this is the NFL, you don't win the Superbowl every year, and there is no free ride to the play offs.

To each his own, but I don't panic. My expectations for SF this year are lowered though. Would be delighted but shocked to see them win it all, at this point.

Going to have the Saints fans over for beers and SF/NOLA football next weekend... could be a long and embarrassing night. Please, say it aint so, Niners.

Originally posted by GolittaCamper:
Forty years of being a 49er fan, and I shall panic if I like.



This is not Madden, this is the NFL, you don't win the Superbowl every year, and there is no free ride to the play offs.

Well said !!

Originally posted by Rascal:

Originally posted by GolittaCamper:
Forty years of being a 49er fan, and I shall panic if I like.



This is not Madden, this is the NFL, you don't win the Superbowl every year, and there is no free ride to the play offs.

Well said !!

Well its definitely hard to even make it to the SB the following year after you were in it the previous year. More the reason why we all wished we won last year.

Originally posted by Baldie:

Originally posted by Rascal:

Originally posted by GolittaCamper:
Forty years of being a 49er fan, and I shall panic if I like.



This is not Madden, this is the NFL, you don't win the Superbowl every year, and there is no free ride to the play offs.

Well said !!

Well its definitely hard to even make it to the SB the following year after you were in it the previous year. More the reason why we all wished we won last year.

Seriously, I strongly believe last season was our very best chance and it turned out to be an opportunity missed. Even before the start of this season, I already felt our time has perhaps passed as I think the Seahawks will take over from us from this point on.

For us to fight back, it will probably involve a considerable amount of personnel changes in terms of upgrades and I am just not convinced we can achieve that in one draft. The problem is we don't have the luxury of time neither as our window closes when a good number of our key players have started to age such as Frank, Pat, Vernon and Justin for example.

Originally posted by Baldie:

Originally posted by Rascal:

Originally posted by GolittaCamper:
Forty years of being a 49er fan, and I shall panic if I like.



This is not Madden, this is the NFL, you don't win the Superbowl every year, and there is no free ride to the play offs.

Well said !!

Well its definitely hard to even make it to the SB the following year after you were in it the previous year. More the reason why we all wished we won last year.

People seem to think it is easy to make the play offs, let alone a the Superbowl, it is not a given, the last two seasons were amazing and special, and really represent major missed opportunities, it may well be 2-3 years before we advance that far again. I personally enjoy every season, even the Nolan Singletary years were enjoyable in a tormented, and dark way. This year will be full of drama, and intrigue, we are still alive, but hopes of a big play off run are fading, I began to turn my eye to next season, and will enjoy the pleasure and pain of rooting for my favorite team, GO NINERS!

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by Hopper:

I was talking about injuries exclusively to starters during this season. I'm not going to point that out again.

LOL, so if they aren't a starter it doesn't matter? He was their #1 rated CB last season and was a de facto starter on the outside for them. Spin it however you like, it was a HUGE loss for this defense.

Speaking of injuries, nobody is talking about the big one from today and that is Eric Reid. What scares me about this kid is that he is one who seems easily succeptable to concussions. Further, his style of play is both what defines him as a player and what puts him at risk. A star rookie with a concussion problem is a big deal for San Francisco, it's a big problem for any NFL team.

Originally posted by GolittaCamper:
People seem to think it is easy to make the play offs, let alone a the Superbowl, it is not a given, the last two seasons were amazing and special, and really represent major missed opportunities, it may well be 2-3 years before we advance that far again. I personally enjoy every season, even the Nolan Singletary years were enjoyable in a tormented, and dark way. This year will be full of drama, and intrigue, we are still alive, but hopes of a big play off run are fading, I began to turn my eye to next season, and will enjoy the pleasure and pain of rooting for my favorite team, GO NINERS!

Missed opportunities is the key word. Two golden opportunities and we failed. The Giants knock off the 15-1 Packers so we can host the NFCCG and Kyle Williams happens. That Defense would have smothered the Patriots.

Then we get to the game and our coaches bring a team slow out of the gates? A motion penalty to start the SB is what we get?

Missed opportunities may haunt this fan base for years to come

Originally posted by bzborow1:
Speaking of injuries, nobody is talking about the big one from today and that is Eric Reid. What scares me about this kid is that he is one who seems easily succeptable to concussions. Further, his style of play is both what defines him as a player and what puts him at risk. A star rookie with a concussion problem is a big deal for San Francisco, it's a big problem for any NFL team.

Yeah and being his second concussion this season and how bad that hit was he'll more than likely be out for next week. As if this team doesn't have enough problems, now we have to go into the superdome with Dahl at FS.

Hate to say it, but you are really quite the optimist (sarcasm intended). What makes you think the Niners will be "just fine" in this scenario? The Seahawks are now 2 1/2 games clear in the division so us beating them on Dec 8th is meaningless unless we beat the Saints and then they beat the Seahawks in Seattle. That is asking for alot after yesterday's performance. Since, the Niners have to think Wild Card, they just blew their chance against one of their biggest competitors for one of those spots. Take all this into account, and the Niners should be very concerned.

best case scenario -- we get bounced in the wild cards, seahawks win the NFC championship and beat their chests before getting plastered by the Broncos in the SB as Peyton exits into the sunset

and yes, we regroup for next year, kaep visits a psychologist and clears his football mental webs.