Originally posted by CatchMaster80:
I don't analyze and criticize every play. There will be some good throws and there will be some good catches. There will also be some drops. Every game has those no matter who the receivers and QB are. I prefer to look at the overall body of work and that tells me more about who a player is. It 's obvious to me that either Jimmy can't or Kyle doesn't believe he can consistently throw the long passes whether down the middle or the deep sideline throw. If he felt he could, why wouldn't he open things up and let him throw those passes more often. He tried one yesterday at the end of the first half when an INT wouldn't hurt them. It was a pretty good pass but the coverage was too tight for a completion. Could have been PI. Don't use the ankle as an excuse because the Niners didn't try those throws often last year either.
I'm not going to take anything away from Jimmy's performance yesterday. He executed the game plan perfectly but I didn't see ant great throws that made me change my mind that he's anything more than a good QB, not elite or top 10. The line blocked well and the running game was working so he could just throw those short passes and move the team downfield. That's fine when you have the lead and are controlling the game. It's not so good if you fall behind and have to come from 2 or 3 scores down late in the game.
Regarding the bolded, I think it's because Jimmy can't throw long passes. Two big factors may have led to the dink and dunk gameplan last night - ADonald vs the struggling OL, and Jimmy's bad ankle. Both of these point to an offensive gameplan that looks to get the ball out quick, and short range. I don't think the reason for the dink and dunk is that Jimmy is incapable of pushing the ball downfield, the optimal gameplan last night, considering the OL and the ankle, was to get the ball out fast so that sacks don't set up 3rd and longs where the OL really gets stressed.