2013 - Week 12: Thoughts after rewatching the game

Originally posted by ChipDouglas510:

Originally posted by Canadian9erfan:
Its amazing to see when our pass rush is effective, it solves most of the defensive problems. The entire Defense looked unreal last night as RGIII had to consistently lookout for Aldon and Brooks coming at him. Suddenly our CBs and S's are not liabilities and we give up under 150 passing yards.

Realistically instead of being the favorite team going into the playoffs with a 14-2 record or whatever, we will play the "no one believes in us" card and roll into the playoffs like that, just like Giants and Ravens have done in the past to win the Superbowl. I just hope that come week 17 and Wild Card weekend, our Offense starts to click and we get rolling.

Lets not forget Ravens were average last season, fired their Off coordinator and won Superbowl with Flacco, Boldin, Pitta, Smith, Jones and Rice all on the same page.

This is why I never lose hope. Most of the superbowl teams never looked great during the regular season, but they got hot at the right time

Nice write up.

Dilfer and Gruden are right though. We have weapons. Sorry the passing game struggles have been on Roman and Kap much more so than the receivers. Boldin, Manningham, Baldwin, Vernon are all very talented dudes. That's a better receiving core than a lot of NFL teams. Kap has not seen the field well, period. It's been broken down on NFL network and Espn and talked about by many analysts. Now hopefully yesterday was a step in the right direction, but we need Kap to see the field against the top teams.

Originally posted by pwillis52beasty:
Nice write up.

Dilfer and Gruden are right though. We have weapons. Sorry the passing game struggles have been on Roman and Kap much more so than the receivers. Boldin, Manningham, Baldwin, Vernon are all very talented dudes. That's a better receiving core than a lot of NFL teams. Kap has not seen the field well, period. It's been broken down on NFL network and Espn and talked about by many analysts. Now hopefully yesterday was a step in the right direction, but we need Kap to see the field against the top teams.

Again...thats not what I'm saying.

They ARE talented. The problem is that they can't do what last years receiving corps did. They have different skillsets. That makes Kap have to do things he doesn't yet do well and forces Roman to abandon the offense that worked so well down the stretch last year.

The personnel is a HUGE part of this, but so is the QB and the OC.

Nice post. Agreed with most of your analysis except for one. Pls don't ever use Jadaveon Clowney as a comparison in NFL plays. The dude is way overrated and haven't done sh*t yet to prove that the hype is real. He is being manhandled one-on-one by Tackles this year and he takes an awful lot of plays off on the field. He does not deserve to be in a NFL conversation or discussion just yet, not just yet. Thank you!

Originally posted by Marvin49:

Originally posted by pwillis52beasty:
Nice write up.

Dilfer and Gruden are right though. We have weapons. Sorry the passing game struggles have been on Roman and Kap much more so than the receivers. Boldin, Manningham, Baldwin, Vernon are all very talented dudes. That's a better receiving core than a lot of NFL teams. Kap has not seen the field well, period. It's been broken down on NFL network and Espn and talked about by many analysts. Now hopefully yesterday was a step in the right direction, but we need Kap to see the field against the top teams.

Again...thats not what I'm saying.

They ARE talented. The problem is that they can't do what last years receiving corps did. They have different skillsets. That makes Kap have to do things he doesn't yet do well and forces Roman to abandon the offense that worked so well down the stretch last year.

The personnel is a HUGE part of this, but so is the QB and the OC.

That's why the problem is the offensive coordinator. It's not the receivers. The receivers are plenty good enough. You use their skills sets accordingly. Roman has not adjusted and used the skill sets of the receivers appropriately. Case in example, not giving Baldwin much redzone opportunity with that huge frame and jumping ability of his. You can't blame the receivers for having different skill sets than last years receivers. It's the coordinators fault for not adjusting.

The play calling, game planning, and the quarterbacks inability to see the field and go through his reads are what is largely responsible for the passing game struggles, not the receivers having different skill sets than last years.

Originally posted by 808niner4lyphe:
Nice post. Agreed with most of your analysis except for one. Pls don't ever use Jadaveon Clowney as a comparison in NFL plays. The dude is way overrated and haven't done sh*t yet to prove that the hype is real. He is being manhandled one-on-one by Tackles this year and he takes an awful lot of plays off on the field. He does not deserve to be in a NFL conversation or discussion just yet, not just yet. Thank you!

My point on Jadeveon was only a reference to his "signature" play vs Michigan, not on the player he will or will not become.

Yea gotta give Whitner his props. Not sure if Fangio is going something different or what, but Whitner has not been exposed this year at all. He's earned another contract. Last year teams picked on him in coverage with te's. And Fangio can you play the corners tighter. And let me give some props to Synder who did a great job in pass pro.

Thanks Marvin, the maturing process of Kaep is evident by knowing how to use Boldin. The back shoulder throws and letting Boldin out muscle receivers brings back memories of the Super Bowl. Brooks has been one of my favorite players, in the past he has always come up with the big play. Now he's doing it the entire game and at times looks like the most dominating player on a loaded 49er defense. Aldon and Brooks as bookends, it's almost not fair. IMO this defense is playing better and has more weapons than the 2011 model. I would like the offense to target McDonald more often.

- Including his interception, Donte Whitner was targeted five times last night, all of which fell incomplete.

- Roman has done a good job against defense with weaknesses. Hopefully he will be able to put players in good position to make plays against Seattle and Arizona whom is threatening to steal 49ers wild card spot in the play offs. What I liked was that although Vernon and Boldin are the top two guys, Manningham was more involved and Mcdonald whom may not be Walker is averaging 14.9 a reception has seen a few more passes come his way recently.

-Defensively I think Eric Reid has been an upgrade over Goldson. Goldson took chances a lot, while Reid does his job and has just as good range. Our pass rush is sick. Glad that Lemonier got more snaps this game, he was not given much playing time against the Saints.

I was at Fed Ex and it was great to experience a 49er game after 30 years of following this team. There were a lot of Niner Faithful and at certain portions of the stadium we seemed to have out numbered the Skins Fans.

Originally posted by jersey49er:
we dominated in every way..idk if its just me but I realize kap isn't perfect n only has maybe 20 starts under his belt..name me 1 qb 20 games into his career that is better then kap..? hes basically a season plus into his career..give the man some slack..damn he had a great game..threw the ball with crazy velocity n accuracy more times then he made bad passes...cmon now..

Russell Wilson may be the one Qb that is better. He also is undefeated at home. But I love Kaepernicks potential and if he continues to work hard would challenge Wilson in the near future for best Qb in the NFC WEST.

Originally posted by Marvin49:
Wasn't suggesting he hasn't missed guys.

My point all along that its several things, not any ONE thing that is the difference. He's missing his second reads because last year he seldom even had to look to a second read. Why? They had different personnel and Roman was able to give him some great looks at players running wide open.

Thats a function of the scheme working, personnel that could challenge vertically, and a QB with a huge and accurate arm.

Whats changed? Personnel. While the guys they have no aren't terrible, they are DIFFERENT than what they had last year.

Example, Would I take Tony Gonzales in his prime over Vernon right now? No. Without a second thought I take Vernon. Is it because I think Vernon is so much better than Tony was? Not even close. Tony was better. Vernon tho presents a challenge to defenses that the 49ers need BADLY. He can challenge vertically at a TE. He allows yoy to line up in power formations and still throw deep. When they had Delanie they has TWO guys who could do that. When they had 2, you could have 2 TEs running 4.4 and a safety who was forced to make a choice.

That doesn't exist right now in this offense.

Don't be surprised if they look fior a burner of a TE in the draft.

I have one problem with Vernon when their is contact or a perfect thrown pass is not executed to him, he usually does not come down with the ball. I like how Gonzales finds holes in the zone and is a much better Red zone target then Vernon. Vernon is the best Deep threat I have ever seen at the Tight End position.

Originally posted by Marvin49:
I never said it was a "renaissance game" for Kap. In fact my point is that they CAN'T have the same offense they had last year because they don't have the components. They can be BETTER when Crab comes back, but IMO it's Delanie Walker that they could really use right now.

Roman needs to adjust. I am not saying he's done perfectly. I'm only saying it isn't any ONE thing. Its a combination of all of them.

One thing I like about you Marvin is your are loyal!

Originally posted by GORO:

- Including his interception, Donte Whitner was targeted five times last night, all of which fell incomplete.

- Roman has done a good job against defense with weaknesses. Hopefully he will be able to put players in good position to make plays against Seattle and Arizona whom is threatening to steal 49ers wild card spot in the play offs. What I liked was that although Vernon and Boldin are the top two guys, Manningham was more involved and Mcdonald whom may not be Walker is averaging 14.9 a reception has seen a few more passes come his way recently.

-Defensively I think Eric Reid has been an upgrade over Goldson. Goldson took chances a lot, while Reid does his job and has just as good range. Our pass rush is sick. Glad that Lemonier got more snaps this game, he was not given much playing time against the Saints.

I was at Fed Ex and it was great to experience a 49er game after 30 years of following this team. There were a lot of Niner Faithful and at certain portions of the stadium we seemed to have out numbered the Skins Fans.

I sat in seat 224 on vistors side......nothing but niner fans....it was like that 2 years ago aswell

Originally posted by sacniner:
Right, but what Gruden was saying is he is tired of the "no weapons" excuse. It was our week 12 game last night. We should have a decent handle on how to use this year's weapons by now. And last year he didn't really need to look at his second read which no one really mentioned. Obviously, that won't work forever. I think Gruden meant that Kap needs to just step up. If that means going to his second read, so be it. We can differ on that, but I don't see anything wrong with his comment.

And, how many teams really have "two burners" at TE?

I have always believed that Gruden wanted the 49er job and any chance to attack the 49ers he will gladly do so especially on the offensive side. When Harbaugh was given the job, he never complimented him and called him a so called Quarterback guru? His son was quoted as saying he wanted the 49er job, I read this some where prior to Singleterry getting fired.

Nice review, Marvin49. Just to piggyback off some of the points you raised.

- It was nice to see Ham get targeted with the first 3-4 passes. For sure it opened things up a bit for Boldin.

- Like you stated, looks like the back shoulder throw to Boldin is here to stay versus press man coverage. Very nice placement on those passes versus WAS.

- When given time in the pocket, Kap can stand and deliver. His arm talent is undeniable. Much has been made of the near INTs, but I only counted one and it was the near pick-6 to the WAS linebacker - terrible pass. There was another tipped pass on an out route to the left side, but it was just that, a tip. Defenders have trouble intercepting Kap's bullet passes for a reason. They just aren't used to catching lasers. Apparently, there was a third 'near INT', but I can't recall it.

- Fangio is very creative with how he uses Aldon. I saw Aldon lined up in his usual spot versus the LT, on the other side of the formation versus the RT, and also as a DT. This isn't anything new though. One pass rush saw Aldon, Lemon, and Brooks on the field at the same time with TJE as the 4th rusher (Aldon as DT). Not sure how many times this front 4 saw the field, but I counted once for sure. Once Lemon ripens, this personnel (sub TJE for Justin) will wreak havoc and should rival the potent DL rotation that NYG had in their SB run.

- Shanahan is a dummy for continuing to throw those lame WR screens. Versus the 49er LB crew, it's suicide. Even Gruden mentioned during the telecast that the WAS WRs must be going back to the huddle saying, "throw that pass to someone else".

- LMJ showed us why he should be the PR and why he should not be the PR. Nice job when he catches the ball, but had a blatant muff that he was lucky to recover.

- Eliminate the screen pass from the playbook or practice it a hell of a lot more. The 49ers look like a bunch of pee wee kids when they try a right/left screen. Completely disjointed and full of fail, from the QB to the OL.

- Why does the 49er offense always get off to such slow starts. It's like the first two or three possessions are just throwaway possessions.