Finally got the coaches film available late last night, watched the game through a couple times last night and learned quite a few things.
Overall, the team played very well. Justin Smith is still a beast - made a lot of plays that didn't show up in the stat sheet, also pretty much dominated Dallas' LG the whole game. Frank Gore has definitely still got it, Hyde does have a good burst, but, it's hard to tell the difference between the two runners without looking at their jersey numbers. They both have a very similar running style. Gore did average less per carry, but, he also had more O-line and blocker breakdowns than Hyde did.
The read option is still a very good package for us. It may seem like CK didn't get a lot on the ground with it, but that's because the defense was actively trying to not let him. Ever since CK's game against the Packers a couple years ago when he went off for 181, teams have been dead set that he's not going to do that. So, that has opened up some huge running lanes for the RB's off the read option. Hyde had a few big runs that were the benefit of this. So it's definitely a great option for us.
The O-line played OK, not great. Iupati -surprisingly, had the best game out of all the O-lineman(from what I saw). Looney had the worst. He got flagged for a couple holds and totally whiffed on a few blocks and gave up some pressures. It will be good to get Boone back. Same thing with Martin, he played better in the first half, but, nothing to make me get excited for - those two guys do provide some better depth though as they are both better at their positions than Snyder was at either.
Bruce Miller played an unusually subpar game. He missed at least 4 key blocks on Gore's runs - to the point where Gore, after one run, turned to Miller with his hands out like, "come on man".
CK played an outstanding game, he climbed the pocket, made the right reads, moved on from some reads when they were taken away, made accurate throws, overall a great game by him.
For the defensive side:
Most would say that Wilhoite is no Bowman - but really, it's WIlhoite is no Willis. He's playing Willis' old spot, and Willis is playing Bowman's spot. He's a solid LB, but there is a big difference between him and Willis. The Cowboys were actively trying to run at Wilhoite throughout the game. He doesn't possess near the open field speed of Willis or Bow, which showed up more in pass coverage than anything. I wouldn't be surprised to see more teams try and throw against us out of a 2 WR set this year. He's also not the guy who can take on the blocks quite like Willis or Bow. He's a stop slow to the hole, and doesn't have the recognition ability. It's nothing to freak out about, but, it reminds us of how spoiled we've been to have 2 all pro's at LB.
Brooks played a terrible first half("that's just turrible")..... He got flagged 3 times, missed a couple open field tackles, got whooped on one run and gave up a 10+ yard run to the outside(while taking Willis out of the play too.....) But, he played much better in the 2nd half.
Reid is a stud at safety. The guy looks even better than he did last year. Bethea is also a nice addition - he's not the missile from the secondary in run support that Whitner was, but, he's got a good understanding of pass route combo's and is a smart player who knows where to be on the field.
Overall from the secondary, I saw more man coverage than last year by quite a bit. Last year we didn't run man coverage a whole lot last year. I think a lot of that had to do with the loss of Culliver - who is a good man coverage corner. But, now, with Culliver back and a full offseason with Brock, the gameplan allowed for more man coverage. Also, the guys who came in for both those guys did a good job in coverage throughout the game.
Anyway, that's my summary. So now on to the plays and breakdowns.
The make a habit of straddling and crossing over the line of fair play.
