Why don't we use our offensive players to their strengths?

All good valid questions????? Wish I had an answer..

I at times wonder what style of offense do we run?? Smash mouth yes buuuuuut you have to have another dimension as well. Why use Kyle Williams as a number 2, when he's clearly a slot receiver?? Why not throw quick short strikes when the O-line isn't pass protecting well?? Why doesn't Kap just run at times? Why don't the Wr's break back towards the ball when Kap is under duress?

We had something good going on offensively with the 5 game win streak. I just think the coaches need to have a better back up plan in case things go awry, like yesterday when we lost key pieces of the game plan, there needs to be a good plan B.

Originally posted by NinerGM:
I think you're making a great point here .... I usually don't agree with Kawakami but ...

I am not going to go along 100% with Trent Dilfer's declaration last night that Kaepernick is essentially a one-read QB and if you take away his first read, he becomes "remedial" as a passer.

(No shock I don't buy into everything Dilfer says. I didn't when he was the 49ers' very chatty back-up to Alex Smith, I didn't when he has gushed about Kaepernick, and I don't now. Dilfer makes good points, but he makes a ton of them, and they go all over the place, all the time.)

Dilfer said it on ESPN, and 49ers fans are repeating it everywhere: Kaepernick is a "one-read QB" and somehow that is supposed to explain everything.

Dilfer knows this stuff; I'm not going to say his evaluation is all wrong.

Sometimes yes, it does look like Kaepernick is most comfortable in the Read Option, when the scheme itself limits what he has to think about and limits what the defense can do against him.

But I don't think that's the whole story here. What can Kaepernick do if his first, second and third options are all covered, all the time?

Even if he isn't getting through them like Joe Montana, I'm not sure it would matter with this set of receivers.

For one, the 49ers aren't running a lot of Read Option this season, which makes him more of a normal NFL QB, allows defenses to throw more complicated schemes at him, and though the 49ers offense has done some explosive things this season, it has bogged down, too–against Seattle, Indianapolis and most egregiously against Carolina.

My point is that I watched the 49ers receivers very carefully in the second half, especially when Kaepernick was pressured and had to move (and didn't have his first option open)… and I didn't see ANY receivers breaking open.

This has to partly be Greg Roman and Jim Harbaugh's fault for not putting the receivers into places where they could adjust and get to a spot Kaepernick could find them; it had to partly be Kaepernick's fault for not throwing them open.

Kaepernick just never really does the "throw the receiver open" thing that Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Andrew Luck specialize at; it's a tricky very, very advanced thing to throw a pass before your guy breaks open, trusting that 1) he will get to that spot right when the ball arrives and 2) the DB won't get there first.

Kaepernick likes to see the WR open before he fires, and he usually throws it so hard it doesn't mess up any timing even if he waits.

And Kaepernick isn't very fluid as he goes through his reads. In the past, he has been able to take a quick look, then either rifle a pass or take off… and this year, the taking off part really hasn't been there except for a few games.

I've written that I believe he had a foot injury suffered in Week 1 and then eventually recovered from it recently. Did he get it hurt again? Is he hurt in some other way?

But mostly, I think this is a problem with the 49ers' receiving corps–and yes, we have been at this spot before, with Alex Smith in the playoffs and the loss to the Giants.

Without Michael Crabtree… and then without Vernon Davis in the second half… and with Mario Manningham just getting back in… and with Anquan Boldin not exactly a speed-burner, especially late in a route… and Kyle Williams out there for a few snaps who knows why… and Jonathan Baldwin doing nothing in his few snaps…

There was not a lot of separation out there, whether Kaepernick was on his first read, second read or 10th read.

And when he threw a deep one to back-up TE Vance McDonald down the middle… McDonald couldn't hold onto the ball. That was a play that could've turned the game, right there, and Kaepernick did his part.


http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami/2013/11/11/49ers-day-after-kaepernicks-remedial-grade-the-wrs-responsibility-offensive-low-points-and-more/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kawakami-merc+%28Talking+Points+with+Tim+Kawakami%29

A point I've made repeatedly, when you watch Seattle, when Wilson scrambles, you see the WR's immediately break off their routes and work to get open for him, you rarely see that with the 49ers and I don't know if its the coaching or the scheme but it simply doesn't happen the way it should.

Originally posted by NinerGM:
Why is LMJ a healthy scratch for 1/2 a season?

Why isn't he used in a Darren Sproles type way?

Originally posted by verb1der:
We had something good going on offensively with the 5 game win streak. I just think the coaches need to have a better back up plan in case things go awry, like yesterday when we lost key pieces of the game plan, there needs to be a good plan B.

There never is a Plan B, it is Plan A or bust as far as the offense is concerned. If Plan A works, they light up a team, run the ball down their throat and win by 20+. If Plan A doesn't work, they flail around helplessly and the other team beats them down.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
There never is a Plan B, it is Plan A or bust as far as the offense is concerned. If Plan A works, they light up a team, run the ball down their throat and win by 20+. If Plan A doesn't work, they flail around helplessly and the other team beats them down.

problem is plan a was working very well. to the tune of moving the ball and getting 3 scoring possessions one of which should have been a touchdown.

they went away from plan a for some unknown reason. well we know the reason, because roman is an idiot. how is it that we can scheme and see what each player is capable of doing, adjustments that need to be made but the guy in the booth is too stupid to see these things? every quick slant worked because the db's were playing off knowing a blitz was coming. do we keep doing that? no. we haven't used vance macdonald's big body in the redzone not 1 damn time this season. that alone is enough to get roman fired. not one time.. he is always blocking and that's it. in the redzone yesterday what plays did we run to score a td? none. why didn't we run the ball on 4th and 1 we can't get 1 yard? he's ruining a season like he ruined a super bowl run like he's ruining people's careers and the message we the fans get is that it's just ok.

we never get any word from the coaching staff they always try and be cute and talk in code the only coach who is bluntly honest is fangio and what a surprise his unit has been playing lights out in every single game this season.

how do you have a team meeting after every loss and know that it was completely on the offense.. every single one? the defense gives up 10 points scores on 2 possessions in the entire game and the team loses?

Originally posted by jays9ers:
Why isn't he used in a Darren Sproles type way?

the same reason we don't run screens at all. the same reason they had hunter run up the middle on a 3rd and 1 the same reason they only tried to get vance the ball 1 time even with vernon out and he got down the field but decided to not go to it again the same reason we didn't use him in the redzone and haven't all season the same reason we kept doing shotgun and 7 step drops with the wr's literally running into the coverage instead of catching a pass or calling a route that ends before the db's can make the plays the same reason we were gashing the 2nd rank run defense and decided to not run it.

hunter fumbles and that's the end of our running game.. the coaching staff was scared and blinked and they always soften up when we play tough teams. and its unacceptable. unacceptable

you go for it on that 4th and 1 and the 1 yard line. you send the message we are the tough team. you don't fake a snap to try and get them off sides.

you run with power like you have been, gore showed from the 1st possession that he had "it" yesterday. you throw quick passes if every one of them were complete. not routes that take longer than kap has to complete them.
it makes no sense on any level and there is no excuse

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by verb1der:
We had something good going on offensively with the 5 game win streak. I just think the coaches need to have a better back up plan in case things go awry, like yesterday when we lost key pieces of the game plan, there needs to be a good plan B.

There never is a Plan B, it is Plan A or bust as far as the offense is concerned. If Plan A works, they light up a team, run the ball down their throat and win by 20+. If Plan A doesn't work, they flail around helplessly and the other team beats them down.

This pretty much the truth.

Also I wonder why we no longer use trick plays, we did it plenty of times last season, this season not so much. And in a close game like yesterday, all it would take is one game changing play to win the game.

As frustrating as I am about the players, in the end, the coaching staff have to shelter the most blame why this offense isn't moving well, especially the passing game. Yes, Kaep have his issues, OL have their issues, the WRs have their issues, and without V. Davis, everything is worst ten fold.

II think it's time for Harbaugh to move on to a more dynamic OC who can call better game and adjust to the defense accordingly through out the game. Our coaching staff have not maximized our players to the best of the players' ability in the passing game. I have no issues with our game plan/calls when it comes to our run game, but for the love of God, someone in our coaching staff, especially Roman, needs to go watch some of B. Walsh's film and come up with a better passing game or step aside and let someone who can come up with a better game plan and call better plays during the game.

I am no offensive genius, but when the D-Line is aggressively getting to the QB all day, maybe mix in a screen pass...Have we thrown one screen all year? That slant to Manningham was the first slant I've seen all year...12 yards, first down. Sometimes you don't need fancy formations and gimmick plays and you just need to throw a freaking slant...

I ask myself these same damn questions.

if receiver struggle to get open, crossing patterns and pick plays can help free them up--dont see niers running much of these

Originally posted by hofer36:
if receiver struggle to get open, crossing patterns and pick plays can help free them up--dont see niers running much of these

This. It's quite obvious that the Niners need to draft some speed at WR next year. I like Patton and I think he's able to get quick separation. Crabtree does a decent job getting open quickly but we need help.