Originally posted by Marvin49:
Its Monday morning and overreactions abound as always. That second viewing though always helps for clarity...
1) Garoppolo: His worst start as a 49er. No doubt. No sugar coating it. However, it surely wasn't all on him. Interception #1 as has been widely reported was the WR running the wrong route. Specifically, I think the WR didn't see the blitz and switch to hot route, but not sure. Clearly though, Garoppolo expecting him to cut in and Bourne admitted such after the game. The TV broadcast said INT #2 was on him and he does have some culpability on the pass, but I saw something odd on that play and saw it again re-watching it. It almost looks like Pettis takes an extra false step outside before cutting inside. This MAY have thrown off the timing of the play and explain why Garoppolo threw the ball too far inside and out of Pettis' reach. Can't absolve him of that INT entirely, but something didn't look right on the route. On the third INT, I have no clue what he was looking at. WR wasn't anywhere near open.
The drops were maddening. Pettis can't was SOOO close and you can credit defender, but he still should have had it. Garcon drop would have been a nice play but if you get both hands on the ball you should catch it. The Kittle drop....I dunno. Its like he slowed down when he was looking over his shoulder. Again, would have been a nice catch, but the ball was there.
To be honest, IMO the two worst throws in the game were the third INT and the miss to Kittle in the endzone. Gotta get those.
The TD pass to Pettis though was a thing of beauty. Even the best QBs have bad days. It was going to happen eventually. Top rated D, in their house, one of the loudest stadiums in NFL, with injuries on the line and to Goodwin early....this wasn't unexpected. He still made so really nice plays. The fact that he threw 3 INTs and they fimbled on the one and STILL were 8 points down to a 13-3 team last year who improved at QB says something. I'm not concerned at all about Jimmy.
2) DeForest Buckner: Vikings have questionable line, but MAN. DeFo is a monster. This is his year.
3) Brock Coyle: I hate to speak ill of the injured, but MAN...that dude sucks. LOL. I usually don't say stuff like that, but he was missing tackles all over, was slow getting to the spot and slow to react. I'd much rather have Elijah Lee out there than Coyle. Need both Reuben and Malcolm Smith back bad.
4) Fred Warner: Dude had himself a day. All over the field. Played well in run and pass coverage....but I do still worry that he too often arm tackles and may lead later to missed tackles. Not critical of him yesterday and that was a pretty damn good debut, but I think he needs to lay down that should more than he does now.
5) Pettis: Had some moments but also had some rookie moments. Dropped punt, dropped deep pass, extra step on that slant...room for improvement. That TD catch though was fantastic and indicative of what he can be. He just has some work to do.
6) Sherman: Alot of online peeps making comments about the play on which he was beat by Diggs, but should be noted that was the ONLY reception he allowed and generally looked like Richard Sherman. Not bad for his first game back. Also put his head in there and recovered the fumble caused by Warner.
7) Missed Tackles: There were alot of missed tackles yesterday. The ones that concerned me most were by Adrian Colbert. Its early and perhaps they'll clean that up, but he's got to wrap up.
8) Solomon Thomas: Continues to be maddening. He flashes big particularly in run D but then he'll make a boneheaded play at the end of the game. Dude is bright as hell so no idea what he was thinking. Should also be noted though that he wasn't the only guy who jumped a bit and I'm not convinced he actually moved into neatral zone, but that's no excuse. He should have even twitched at all in that circumstance. He knows it though. I can't imagine him making that mistake ever again.
9) Guard: Ouch. My guess is they resign Jonathan Cooper, but they have gone from two guys with question marks to NOBODY there. They have to fix that.
10) Bottom Line: Bottom line here is that we all need to put this loss into context. The Vikings might be in the SB this year. The Niners made several unforced errors and shot themselves in the foot and STILL had a chance at the end. The Vikings game IN Minn might have been the toughest game on the entire schedule and they didn't get embarrassed.
I for one am not too upset with this one as there were positives if you realize that all the hype in the off-season was a bit premature. The team we saw yesterday likely won't be the same team we see in several weeks here. Should be fun to watch. :D
Nice post.
Yes Jimmy struggled but let's not underestimate that Vikings D. They are hands down the most dominant group in he league and we still moved the ball on them. Jimmy was pressured on probably half his drop backs.
We lost our starting guard. Our backup guard and our rookie RT was forced to play a position he had never played.
We lost our #1 receiver.
Our running game is in trouble. I have no faith in Breida or Morris. I think we need to get on the phone and give Pittsburg a call.
Warner and Foster is going to be the best LB duo in the league. Book it.
Love Sherman's leadership.
Slam Solomon all you want but we have a top 10 run D and he is a big part of it.
We desperately need an edge rusher. An elite edge rusher will take this D to the next level.
