Before: Alex Smith, Vernon Davis, Michael Crabtree, Delanie Walker, Kyle Williams and Frank Gore.
Grade: F
Why: Vernon Davis is a monster red zone target, but he got double covered constantly last season. Offensive coordinator Greg Roman wanted to establish his red zone offense with Braylon Edwards at the beginning of last season – force feeding him fade passes in the corner of the end zone. Edwards couldn’t catch a single one, and then he got hurt, and then it seemed like Roman ran out of ideas. Delanie Walker and Kyle Williams are too short to be real red-zone threats, and Frank Gore is not a particularly powerful goal line running back.
Now: Subtract Walker, Williams and Gore. Add Moss, Manningham and Jacobs.
Grade: B
Why: Randy Moss can probably catch the end zone fade better right now than Braylon Edwards ever could. If Moss can stay healthy, his main benefit to the team should be in the red zone. If Roman can establish him as a TD threat early on, that will open up Davis and the Niners will be in business. If Moss gets hurt or quits on the team, the Niners red zone offense is back at square one. The addition of Jacobs should help a little bit – he scored 16 touchdowns the last two seasons – but he’s aging and slowing down. And although A.J. Jenkins may have value, for the red zone he’s a little short. It’s Moss who’s the key to the Niners red zone offense.
49ers RSS feed
Loading ...
…Yaaaaawwwnn..can we plz get something to read…
The Bible is the all time best seller,may I suggest you try it ?
Not everyone enjoys fiction.
Which one?
And what of the books of God which were tossed out all those centuries ago by the select few who determined which/what books of God got into the bible and which ones did not.
Ever see “History of the World”? When Moses comes down to present “These 15 commandments (drops 1 tablet)..10 Commandments.”
If you believe in the story, I really wonder if that actually did happen. Maybe there were another 5 which would have really helped out mankind. And Moses just dropped them.
Or maybe the burning bush was speaking to quickly. And Moses could only pick up 10 of however many there really were. After all, transcribing onto stone can’t be very easy or done quickly.lol
@ Winston and DS….. You guys are winners. I mean that.
Thanks Artifex.
You forgot our greatest red zone threat last year,David Akers !
And JH said that James is unstoppable at the goal line,so maybe he is used there,even though he is so small ? (maybe he hides well behind the big O linemen ?)
So you think LaMichael Jordan is not a RZ threat? You don’t buy what Harbaugh’s selling?
He’s 194 pounds. He won’t be a red zone threat this season.
Not on the goal-line, maybe, but he could be a real asset from the 5 to the 20.
You’re right. I should have said goal line, not red zone.
Jordon sure was a goal line threat in the Pac-12. He didn’t carry people into the end zone, but he was so fast that he bounced off of a lot of goal line tackles. The combination of Jordan and Jacobs on the goal line might show up a few times this coming season. I think it will get tested.
Who is this LeMichael JORDAN you guys are talking about ? lol
Why? What’s it to ya?!
If my new guy’s name is a LeBron/Michael-hybrid, and I want the guy to be a clutch, winning leader on my team, I’m gonna assume the right to use the last name Jordan (not James)!!!
LOL !
They don’t know, but his real name is LaMichael
James, not Jordan.
Honestly, I wouldn’t compare James to Jordan. Jordan was a great basketball player and is excellent advertising candy, but that’s it. To compare our newest RB to him (unless it’s their great play) is an insult to James’s character.
Braylon Edwards caught plenty of fade pattern tds with Michigan, Cleveland and New York and was very productive, so once again it’s everybody else and not the most inaccurate qb in football alex smiths fault? I can see it now, once alex can’t get the new weapons the ball it will be moss is too old, Manningham sucks, Jenkins is a bust, the o line stinks…. I’ve never seen more excuses made for a human being so bad at his job in my life. You guys really need 8 years to see if a guy is no good? Maybe football isn’t your thing.
I hope the 49ers don’t read your post. Otherwise, they are bound to fold their tent and find a new calling.
I don’t think they cut Braylon in the middle of the season because Alex sucked. Blame Alex for a lot of things, but not that. That was more Braylon’s health and attitude issues.
Braylon was injured
what are drinking?
Im my scholastic experience you dont’t jup up from an ‘F’ to a ‘B’ by simply adding “posibilities.” It comes from working hard and, in football, working all the time. So, until the work shows otherwise, I will remember all this “analysis” and see how it all plays out.
James can score from anywhere on the field at anytime. Red zone improved just because of that.
Perhaps with the weapons we now have in the fold there will be less redzone opportunities.
If we can’t settle our redzone issues, we may have to sign D.Akers to a long term deal (lol).
I wouldn’t be surprised to see either CK or JJ come in on special 3rd down and redzone packages if Alex does not deliver. But that is certainly a worst case scenario that I hope we don’t cross.
As Lowell Cohn stated, there are no more excuses for Alex. Alex may be under more pressure to deliver this year then he’s ever been before because he couldn’t ask for a better supporting cast.
The one thing Alex has proved during his career is that he is resillient and aleays prepared to take on any challenge. I have to give him kudos for that.
*always prepared*
The bottom line is we are the same red zone offense as we were last year with the exception of Moss. The worst in the league with playoff aspirations. Crabtree has not proven that he can be a force as well in the red zone. If the niner brass is thinking Moss will make the difference required, that is a long shot and simply a gamble. We simply did not address our biggest weakness period. No big, powerful receiver to over match the DB’s in the red zone and end zone. Alex is not good enough to compensate for this weakness. His performance in the NFC championship should have told everyone that. I love our coach and GM but they drafted for backups and depths. They did not find what we need the most now though. A difference maker with size and strength on offense. The overall outlook and future of the team is good with the latest additions. But the reality is we do not have a very good offense inside the twenties. Does anyone here actually think that Alex can duplicate his six fourth quarter comebacks again? Plus every one will be gunning for us. The Rams and Seahawks are better and had better drafts addressing their needs, especially Seattle. Gore is wearing down and will continue to devalue our running game as he is becoming injury prone with age. He is a warrior, but is past his prime. Jacobs is a cancer, blaming his offensive line in NY last year. Hunter is undersized just as our second round pick is. Jenkins will not start unless Moss burns us. The added speed may be that a change or transition away from power or acknowledgement of Gore’s limited future. from power if offensive philosophy that were seeing here. The only issue with that is we do not play on a fast track at home. Our grade in the draft cannot be intellectually made yet but if I look at it objectively, I would be happy if I resided in the NFC west and saw no big difference maker added to our weak offense. Vernon will be continually doubled teamed as opposed to NO and their mistake of not doing that. The Giants saw the difference and exploited it.
wow..do you have anything really positive to say? Negative Nancy. The Niners were a couple of Kyle Williams errors away from a trip to the Super Bowl and I think they will have a better offense this year regardless of what you think. The odds makers are giving the Niners a 12:1 odds of making it and I saw a 4:1 I think too. Alex Smith: a quarterback thrown to the wolves his first year..no offensive line..and his injury…now year in and year out new coaches and new systems. No continuity…a massive shoulder injury from all the repeated hits. That man is no quitter and I think he did remarkably well ..I saw some poor play from him but overall I think this year will either be his best or he’ll be gone….he’s been surrounded by talent through I wish the Niners had went and gotten a super good tackle and hopefully will move Davis to Guard where he’d do better…god he was awful at times.
What Baalke acquired was speed and playmaking. You don’t need to be 6-4+ to score TD’s in the RZ. Moss, Manningham, James, Jenkins, Vernon, Walker, we have plenty of weapons. Besides the additional talent, the doubters (and the rest of us) will see more creative playcalling to put the added talent to use. The entire playbook will be installed…screens, more deep routes, et al. Quit whining about what we don’t have…and appreciate what we do have, which are playmakers and a comittment to open up the offense. If it doesn’t succeed, then whine all you want…but, I seriously doubt you’ll get that chance.
I’ll give JH and TB the benefit of the doubt. But if these picks an Alex don’t work out, we are in serious trouble and back to the drawing boars.
The picks did not address the teams’ needs. I know this ahead been said several Ti ea. either JH and TB are smarter than the entire league or are just hoping their luck continues.
I still support my niners 100%
I have also supported Alex but this is make it or break it year for him
Little is said about Tozien, bug I think this kid will be special
This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen on here (and that’s saying something). Almost as bad as the proposed Delanie Walker trade to move up and take Fleener in the draft. You’re giving grades for something that hasn’t happened yet? “If” Moss does this and “If” Roman does that? Are you kidding me with this? This kind of “story” is for web forums for guys to assign grades to things that haven’t happened and are bored so they make up crazy speculations. I don’t know how this theoretical garbage made its way online. But the fact that you put this up or got it posted in the first place, for all the facets of the 49ers team is hysterical to me. Wish I were in your world where Randy Moss is his ’98 rookie self catching TD’s left and right. He may not even make the team!!!!! To quote Billy Madison, “what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.” Stop wasting our time with this nonsense and write something worth actual value.
Ditto
In the red zone I have to believe Walker will still be in there a lot considering how often SF likes to run Double Tight set. Also our most effective formation per the stats last year was that formation and our numbers went down when Delanie was hurt.
Grant Cohn has committed the same error as Rob Rang and Pete Prisco of CBSsports.com committed. He has looked at LaMichael James’s height, weight, and 40 time and decided that James is a clone of Kendall Hunter. At least Rang and Prisco have the “excuse” that neither apparently ever has viewed, live or on tape, any college football game played west of the Mississippi River; what is Grant Cohn’s excuse?
James is not like Kendall Hunter. James gets a lot of his yardage on plays between the tackles, timing the move into the gap just right to get through before the gap closes. James is not Walter Payton, but his running style is a lot closer to Walter Payton’s than it is to Kendall Hunter’s: James’s style depends on throttling back until the hole opens up, then explosively accelerating into the hole.
Here’s a bit of news: at the goal line, the job of moving the defensive linemen and the linebackers is primarily a task assigned to the offensive line. The task of the ball carrier is not physically to move the 350 pound defensive linemen with his mass or acceleration, but rather to find the soft spot between the defensive players that the offensive linemen (if they have done their part of the job) have created with their push off the blocks. James is a specialist in finding that soft spot.
since…absolutely right about LMJ…James will turn some heads this year…His style is unique. So glad the niners did not buy into the ‘too small’ trap
blah blah blah- u all dont think harbaugh knows what we need to do this year? we dont need a 6 ft 6 reciever to b a dominant redzone team. teams new it was gore or davis. . period. now cover moss, gore, jenkins, davis, jacobs, manningham, and maybe owusu, or even palmer or tynes. hell- put aldon smith in there. ha. wouldnt surprise me.
The Niners are Back!!