2013 - NFC Championship Round: Thoughts after watching the game...

What haunts me off the most about this game ( I'm sure it has with most here) is how close we were to being in the big dance to redeem ourselves. Now we have to hear about the 12th woman and see SHEman's ugly face and Russel "the hobbit" Wilson, and cheating Pete for the next couple of weeks.
That being said, Roman as a play caller is absolutely horrible in that last play call, sure it was Kap that made the decision to throw without even looking at the progressions, but why that playcall? The play called Crabs was the primary target, SHEman had no safety coverage ,and in theory was the right play to make, bad execution by Kap not to place the ball at the back corner of the endzone and we're here lamenting that fact.
But why did Roman even call that play when they only tested SHEman one time only (which not surprisingly got a def hold) at that stage of the game you take the playsheet and a sharpy and you cross out any plays that is designed to go the SHEman's side. I hate to relive it but I could think of a dozen plays to run OTHER than throwing to the best CB (yes I said it) in the league.
Roll call; PA roll out / bootleg , QB run, RB draw , RB counter (kendall hunter), WR screen, TE screen, RB wheel route, WR end around (Patton), quick slant (other than SHEman side), TE skinny post, sprint option left (Kap could throw well to his left) , PA pass then pass to HB, I could go on and on... But I hate to agree with SHEman but why even try at that point in the game?

This whole Sherman thing is ridiculous... All I've been reading have been excuses for his actions and of course the race card is being played now. Who cares what his skin color is, the reason people hate you is because of your poor sportsmanship and taunting opponents d-bag

Originally posted by sdniner:
This whole Sherman thing is ridiculous... All I've been reading have been excuses for his actions and of course the race card is being played now. Who cares what his skin color is, the reason people hate you is because of your poor sportsmanship and taunting opponents d-bag

if you act like a d-bag, people are going to pile on and some of them might be racist.

Originally posted by 4eninder:

Originally posted by SFL49ER:
They shut that down in the second half with a fifth player up to spy Kap, sometimes a sixth. The best plan was to pass the ball

I'm not saying this because I think Joe knows everything but Montana is right. Kapernick hasn't changed one single bit in the six years I've watched him play, that's including his time at UNR. He's an explosive play maker who makes errant throws consistently and as Joe alluded to , Colin has trouble " picking up" on open receivers." Field generalship" we all know is what Montana possessed and is something that if Colin had the ability to develop such an attribute it would have shown signs of more progression by now. As an example you can see with Andrew Luck. What you've all seen from Colin Kapernick up to this point , is about all your going to get. Is it enough ? Yes , but the window is closing fast.

I love Kap, and I have faith he will grow and develop, but on that last interception of the game Quinton Patton was wide open on the left side for an easy 10 yards at least, with blocking he might have even scored. We had 2 timeouts and around 30 seconds (plenty of time). Anquan Boldin was running a go route right up the left side in the slot and was also open had the ball been thrown to his inside...looked at this play over and over. The problem was Kap had his mind made up where he was going from the start of the snap. He does need to get alot better at going through his progressions because he missed a great chance to have a legendary game on his resume. On the bad INT he threw trying to get the ball over to Anquan, he also has Kendall Hunter wide open in the middle of the field.

Originally posted by hubbyt:

This may be hard for us to admit but to a man the better team won. There I said it! May the truth set me free lol. They made the big plays required to win a game like that against fairly even teams. Give them credit. The detailed play for play analysis is cool but in simple terms they won the turnover battle, they won in terms of big passing plays, they ran the ball better with Lynch, their special teams contributed with a huge return and they adjusted and contained Kap's scrambling in the 2nd half. All of those things add up to them winning even though we came close we just werent good enough. We are "this" close to being champions but we have to improve in all areas because as we see it doesnt come easy.

i agree with this, theyre the better team, this year at least. let's cut the bull here, theyre better. russell is smarter than kaepernick, dont count him out against the broncos no matter your emotions and biases. lynch is better than gore. everywhere else were fairly matched. the seahawks played smarter and tougher, they totally deserved it. our qb threw two picks and fumbled the ball in crunch time,but nobody wants to admit he's not a great passer yet and he's not ready to get us #6. this year anyways.

Because it's fun to take off the band aid and look at open wounds.

The play wasn't as simple as snap the ball and throw it up to Crabs. Kap still had to make sure that Thomas (blue circle) would not provide over the top help for Sherman.


Kap's first key is the FS Thomas. Thomas does not go over to help Sherman. So far, it's a go for this pass.


Kap now directs his sight to Crabs vs Sherman, knowing it's 1 on 1 with no safety help.


This is the moment in time Kap decides to pull the trigger. Sherman is not only even with Crabs, he's over the top of Crabs, using body position to prevent an inside breaking route. Notice Sherman is further upfield than Crabs is.



Deciding to throw a pass is more than just "my #1 WR is one on one, do it". Kap must consider the matchup as well as how the CB is aligned with the WR. If Sherman was in a trailing position, go for it. Sherman is not in a trailing position. Asking Crabs to beat one of the best CBs in the league, who happens to be 6'3" is a tough task any way you slice it. I hated the pass then and I hate it more now after seeing that Sherman was not in a trail position. A QB always has the option of moving off of his pre-snap read if he doesn't like what he sees. Kap should not have liked what he saw here.

Easy for me to say now that I know the result. But even if it went for a TD, I'm marveling at the balls it took to throw this pass and I would recognize what a risk it was to try it.

he had a nice pocket too...damn shame

Originally posted by socalniner:
he had a nice pocket too...damn shame

Not really. Avril was closing in there.

Originally posted by thl408:

Is that Malcolm Smith parallel with Crab at the 10 yard number? For him to close that gap in order to clean up Sherman's tipped ball, he must have left his zone as soon as Kap started his delivery. Heck of a gamble...had Kap been pump faking instead, he would have had a good bit of grass to the right once Smith cleared out.

f**k that. f**king Patton was open. We're on the 19 with enough time and timeouts to game plan the final few plays.

We rushed and blew it this season and last in the same ridiculous manner. We rushed with too much urgency and no scheme to beat the opponent. f**k man

Originally posted by Marvin49:

Originally posted by socalniner:
he had a nice pocket too...damn shame

Not really. Avril was closing in there.

So you're saying he didn't have enough time to change his read?

Maybe Harbaugh Kaepernick & Crabtree had a personal vendeta against sherman. Isolated was going to go there no matter what

I've read many of the arguments in favor and against the decision to throw this pass and everyone has legit reasons to feel how they feel. On one side, people are content with the throw because it's Crabs 1 on 1 with no safety help. On the other side, it's 1st down with time left on the clock versus a very good CB. At first, I was meh with it because he didn't throw into double coverage, which is a cardinal sin. But after seeing it in slo mo, Kap had an opportunity to look elsewhere once he saw that Sherman was step for step. He can like the matchup presnap, that's fine, but it never means he must follow through with it.

Through the first eight games of 2007, Sherman was Stanford's leading receiver, with 36 catches for 635 yards. But in the ninth game, against Washington, he caught just two passes for 11 yards and was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct while covering a punt. Senior receiver Evan Moore challenged Sherman on the sideline to control his emotions, prompting a shoving match, and Harbaugh suspended Sherman for the following game. He caught just one pass for five yards the remainder of the season. "He and Harbaugh clashed more than once," says Kevin.

"You learn to harness some things in college—intensity, competitiveness—and Richard did a good job of that," says Harbaugh. "I have long and good memories of when we were together. With coaches and players, if you end up being friends, that's great. But it's far more important to me personally that we took care of his future."

Sherman redshirted 2008 because of a left-knee injury, fell down the depth chart and called home, wondering if he should transfer. "You're going to leave Stanford for some rinky-dink school just because you want to play football and don't get along with some coach?" Beverly asked, incredulous. "No. You go make it happen."

Harbaugh was in charge of the offense but delegated defensive duties, so Sherman texted the coach and asked to switch to cornerback, the position Carroll thought he should have been playing all along. "That call saved him," Kevin says, "because Richard didn't have to deal with Harbaugh anymore. They were out of each other's hair." In the winter of 2009, reporters asked Harbaugh about Sherman's new position.

His response: "Don't know if he'll be able to beat anybody out over there or not."

Originally posted by Jakemall:
Kap was the only one doing anything? Okay. I'll play... WRs and TEs can't catch if the ball isn't thrown...and the HBs can't run if the defense has 8-9 in the box daring Kap to throw.

This defense had Kap pegged. The only thing that was working early was Kap running and later in the game Kap was forcing throws..which look magnificent when they go your way..and result in picks when they don't.

Not saying that everyone on offense didn't contribute to this loss...but let's be fair here..kap wasn't the only one doing anything...and what is more, he was a part of the reason everyone else was limited to what they could do.

THIS!! And this again!