Here are the grades for the 49ers 34-0 trouncing of the Jets – the worst team in the NFL despite their 2-2 record.
Quarterbacks: C. Alex Smith completed 12 of 21 passes for 143 yards. No touchdowns or turnovers. He did not complete a pass on third down. Twice he was sacked because he held ball for more than three seconds in the pocket. Colin Kaepernick attempted one pass – he forced it deep to Randy Moss, who was double covered, and the pass was almost intercepted. Kaepernick rushed 5 times for 50 yards and a touchdown as well. He could have had a second rushing touchdown at the end of the game, but he slid near the goal line to kill the clock.
Offensive line: B. They didn’t allow much pressure against a subpar defensive line. The offensive line also blocked well in the run game – the Niners gained 245 yards on the ground – but the Jets missed at least a dozen tackles on those runs.
Running backs: B. Frank Gore had his worst game of the season, rushing 21 times for 62 yards including a 2-yard touchdown. Kendall Hunter had an excellent game, rushing 8 times for 54 yards including a 1-yard TD.
Wide receivers: D. Michael Crabtree caught just two of the seven passes thrown his way, and he was completely dominated when he faced Jets’ CB Antonio Cromartie. Alex Smith never threw a pass to Randy Moss. Mario Manningham had a pretty good game, catching three passes for 47 yards and rushing once for 28 yards. But he dropped a deep pass on third down he probably should have caught.
Tight ends: C. Even though he was getting open, Vernon Davis didn’t get targeted for a pass until late in the first half. Smith ended up throwing two passes to Davis and he caught both of them. Delanie Walker also caught two passes, but dropped two as well. It seems he drops a couple every game.
Defensive line: A. Backup nose tackle Ricky Jean Francois filled in well for the injured starter, Isaac Sopoaga. The Jets tried to run the ball right at Jean Francois but got nowhere. Ray McDonald tipped a pass which Patrick Willis intercepted. Justin Smith had four tackles and a fumble recovery.
Linebackers: A. Aldon Smith sacked Mark Sanchez twice and forced him to fumble once. Ahmad Brooks also sacked Sanchez once. Patrick Willis had 10 tackles, two passes defensed and an interception. NaVorro Bowman had eight tackles and a dropped interception.
Secondary: A. Dashon Goldson forced a fumble and broke up a deep pass to Santonio Holmes when the game was still relatively close. Carlos Rogers recovered two fumbles and returned one 51 yards for a touchdown. Donte Whitner almost picked off a pass – he dove and trapped it against the turf.
Special teams. B+. David Akers missed two field goals. Anthony Dixon was flagged for an illegal block in the back. Those were the negatives. On the positive side, Andy Lee pinned the Jets behind their 5-yard line twice and Larry Grant blocked a punt.
Coaching: C. Greg Roman’s offensive game plan revolved around trick plays – end arounds, options, quarterback runs, etc. It wasn’t a bad game plan. Any game plan would have worked against this Jets team that couldn’t score a single point, turned the ball over four times (almost six times) and had a punt blocked. The Niners could have started Colin Kaepernick at quarterback and called nothing but read-option runs if they wanted, and they still would have won.
But it would have been in the Niners long-term interest if Roman’s game plan hadn’t been so cute.
Every good offense needs core plays that can succeed against good defenses. Roman didn’t develop those plays today. As a result, his offense is still searching for an identity a quarter of the way through the season.
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if anything, i think your grades are biased a bit on the high side, Grant.
bay area fans may not realize who weak this Jets team really is, despite their big win against buffalo to start the season. take a weak team, take away a great and a good player (Revis, Keller), and add 4 turnovers and this was the cakewalk i thought it would be. but the Niners made a lot of mistakes – mostly small ones, but against a better team we would have paid for them.
the scary thing to me: you take away Frank Gore (heaven forbid), and i fear our offense would collapse. maybe Hunter and James would make yardage behind that line, but the run game’s efficiency means that we can misfire a lot on passing downs (hello, third down) and still come away with wins.
I agree. This wasn’t so much a game SF won as much as it was a game SF couldn’t lose. NY went out of their way to lose this game. When that didn’t work, they tried even harder.
I think Hunter and Jacobs when he gets back can more than pick up the slack for Gore. Gore didn’t actually run too well in this game and we still gained over 200 yds on the ground.
am going to take a second look at the game but to my eye, Gore had a lot of 4-6 yard gains while the game was still relatively in doubt. Hunter ran well too, but it seemed like a lot of his yards came late after the Jets were down big and just trying to finish out the game.
Alex & the 49ers Passing Game stunk!
Plain & Simple
We’re coming up on Week#5 and the Passing Game needs to get ALOT better. If I’m Roman & a putting more emphasis in practice this week on the Passing Game.
Grant; Good grades.
I think the Offense needs to take some more risks but it is pretty clear the coaches are not going to open up the offense. Do you see any chance the coaches will open things up?
WR grade maybe a little harsh. Did you consider the non-pass plays they made? Ted Ginn and MM had nice carries as well. I don’t know if I’d really count MM deep ball a drop. It was one of those where he should have caught it, but not quite a drop. A drop is like what MC had in the 1st quarter.
“The Niners could have started Colin Kaepernick at quarterback and called nothing but read-option runs if they wanted, and they still would have won.”
Careful Grant. I wrote something similar and an un-named regular here threw a fit. The Jets allowing CK to run around was bad. If the rest of the NFL is going to let that happen, shoot. Just put CK in every redzone possession.
“But it would have been in the Niners long-term interest if Roman’s game plan hadn’t been so cute. Every good offense needs core plays that can succeed against good defenses.”
Grant, excellent and well said! That is my concern. Trick gimmicky plays to score. They don’t trust their core plays and won’t be able to utilize them when they need them down the stretch and in the playoffs. They have a talented team, but those runs in the RZ on 1st and 2nd down are too basic. When they fail, they leave the team with 3rd and very long yardage thus the options are fewer. GR doesn’t seem to use matchups very well. Too predictable!
Hof… I fear their core plays are the same short slants and check downs and runs off tackle. That teams like Minnesota took away, and dared smith to beat them deep, or gore an the running game to be huge. Starting to get concerned. I know my bet took a huge hit today. :-(
MD, then it’s on GR if he can’t figure out how to use the talent.
Md it definately is the play calling. If not, and they really wanted to be a vertical passing team, Kap would be starting. We are the Ravens 2.o. No doubt in my mind cause the last drive of the half convinced me of that.
Insted of trying to score they were happy with a FG or letting time expire. They simply don’t want to take chances. Thats not because of Alex either cause they could have brought in Kap if they really wanted to get the ball downfield.
The Ravens were a vertical team this last week. JFlacco was hitting all of his receivers. They have proved they can open up when needed.
Hof the engine that drives the ravens is ray rice. They are exactly like us. They prefer to run the ball first, pass only when necessary.
hof
We won 34-0. I don’t feel you’re enjoying this win. We shut out a team in their stadium!
We imposed our will. We are 3-1. Nobody will beat us except us. This was our style game from start to finish.
That’s actually not true, the Ravens have passed almost twice as much as they have run this year. They are currently 3rd in the NFL in passing yards and 13th is rushing yards.
Big P, the Ravens all of the sudden have not become a prolific passing team. They opened it up against CLE?
Prime I’ve Watched the ravens this season. And flacco is letting it fly this season. Their defense isn’t as strong but their offense is very good. Yes rice is the engine but flacco is putting his hat in the ring this season. Things are changing in Baltimore.
The world is ending. I agree with ds hof. What’s up man. Smith had a bad day but the defense picked it up and dominated. Are you not enjoying this stomping? Bottoms up brotha. :-)
The Ravens have averaged 310 yards per game passing through the first 4 weeks of the season. They are using a very agressive vertical passing attack, and are no longer the ground and pound teams that many are accustomed to. It’s almost as though John Harbaugh realized what is necessary to get to a Super Bowl after coming close so many times.
The Ravens model. Not the Ravens of the first 4 weeks
Prime Time,
Look at the stats for yourself. I’m not lying. They run a no-huddle frequently and are #3 in the NFL in passing yards. They are #13 in rushing yards. The pass almost twice as often as they run. When you say “They prefer to run the ball first, pass only when necessary.”, it is incorrect.
If you think the Ravens are a run 1st team this year then you haven’t been paying attention. The Ravens pass around 63% of the time which puts them at around 24th or 25th in the leage in % of rush attempts. This year the Ravens have become a pass first team. They have specifically said they believe Flacco has arrived and he will lead them to wins through the passing game. They aren’t far off. The Ravens are playing really well on both sides of the ball.
The Ravens have been working towards this for a while now. They didn’t draft Tory Smith for nothing. They’ve been patient with Flacco, letting him come into his own at the QB position, and now they are reaping the benefits.
The 49ers may have the same evolution in mind, but we’re not there yet, obviously. It was interesting to see them make more attempts to get the ball downfield though. Like anything else, you have to actually do it before you get good at it. The progression of the Ravens’ offense might be a sneak peek at what the 49ers will look like in a couple of years.
This team is builted like the Ravens, I was pretty jacked up last year when AS led the team pass the Saints and then the first two games of this season he played like ALL Pro. I jumped on the AS bandwagon, than his last two games was a disaster and this one , just average. AS is who we think he is, not horrible, plays great sometimes and just average or poorly other games. Nothing consistent.
The defense will take us to the promise land and the offense has to play more to it’s potential.
We all want to see Joe Montana or Steve Young, although I would settle for Jeff Garcia, we won’t see it under this regime, but they can still win and will see how far they can go. I would love to have CK get better in the passing game, if that happens the future will be bright.
Neal looks like something has clicked inside your brain for once. Yes we are built like the Ravens. We rely on the running game, defense, turnovers an special teams. Is it effective an can it win games? So far so good.
The ravens of 2000? Or now? Because the ravens have Avery good passing game now. If you’re talking a out their Super Bowl year. We both have and had average passing game, very good defense, but they had a 2000 yard rusher. We dont
I would say 2000, Joe Flaco hell of alot better then Dilfer. Smith is better than Dilfer, but Flaco is better than Smith.
Grant can I get a B for my blowout predictiom? Lol
The good news is our defense looks like they woke up, but our passing game is still scary. And I agree totally on the play calling. He keeps calling gimmick plays and we will become the 11 broncos of the NFC. No thanks. I think we learned today that they don’t trust smith on throwing deep routes. The game plans are built especially for smiths strengths. Short mistake free ball. Hope it good enough for a ring.
MD, that includes the run option gimmicky play. They have the play makers with FG, KH, KW, MC, VD, RM, DW and MM to score in the RZ. With that list of talented players, GR can’t find a matchup other than CK running the ball in? Can’t do that every week and win. They need these guys getting their touches and building confidence and continuity. GR needs to get better.
True hof, but if you take away Davis this offense is below average. It was a good sign with MM today. But think about this. Just watching the routes tell you what was called. And today on the tv with minimal view it looked like recievers were running deep routes. And if smith isn’t throwing them then you can’t blame gr. I just hope AS isn’t limited to the short game only.
MD, I see what you are saying, but Grant was there and questioned the play calls. I don’t believe most of the routes were deep from what I saw. MM should be more involved in the game as should the speedy KW. The runs in the first half were unproductive other than CK. I’m still thinking the timing of some of the calls were poor.
Well hof. In the words of Mr Singletary….. We’ll have to look at the film. Lol
Hofe,
CK7 was one block from popping a long run for a TD and slid to intentionally avoid another one.
Gimmicky plays today had the potential for 2 more TD’.
While some here are reproving GR for not using the weapons mentioned, I give him kudos for finding a way to use CK7′ ability to help the offense.
Harbaugh and GR are developing another dimension to the offense by using CK.
IMO, CK7 gives us another weapon and that’s good enough for me!
Go 49ers!
Roman has to call gimmick plays because normal plays consistently fail. The upper limit of the offense is barely average. It is what it is.
Runs on 1st and 2nd down consistently in the RZ. Yeah we know why they fail.
You should take a 2nd look at the play-by-play Hofer instead of making things up Hofer. The 49ers ran on 1st and 2nd three times in the red zone today. Two of those drives ended in TDs, one by CK7 and one by Gore.
The other drive failed on a 3rd and 3 incompletion. I suppose 3rd and 3 is the new 3rd and long.
MSC, the TD by FG was on 4th down. The TD by CK was gimmicky on 3rd and 6. The play calls were terrible everyone sees it but you. Take a look.
Grants offensive assessment is spot on in my view. Although Greg Romans’ seat may not be hot, it is warmer than room temperature. Hopefully it is uncomfortable and he responds with a more inspired gameplan in the future. Great bounce back win. I’m just going to enjoy this one for awhile.
Grades seem pretty fair. I might give Alex a C- and CK a B- (although not really enough of a sample size there) just based on the run plays. The bomb to Randy Moss is probably picked off 50% of the time.
I hate these mini-slants for two yards but why Crabs didn’t get a PI in his favor is beyond me.
Manningham, I think, turns out to be the real deal. A little less hand-checking at the line and he tends to get separation.
Fairly lackluster on offense all the way around. Too many third and impossibles. Something needs to shake this up and some of Roman’s calls were too cute by half.
Too many 3rd and impossibles? There were four third downs over 5 yards in the entire game. On one of those CK7 ran for a TD. On the other 3 Alex predictably threw incompletions.
There were 5 (3rd and long) out of 12. Of the 5, 4 were 3rd and 7+.
Are you counting 3rd and 3 as long now?
folks, with all due respect, lets not make 3rd and 7 or 3rd and 10 seem like climbing Mt Everest. it just seems that way for our offense. even our defense – which is truly good, if not great – gives up some of those.
MSC, you need to do your homework. You tend to be wrong quite a bit here. Do I need to point you in the right direction or would you rather look foolish??! Your choice.
After recounting, Hofer is correct. There were 5 3rd and longs. On one CK7 scored a TD, on the other 4 Alex threw incomplete.
“folks, with all due respect, lets not make 3rd and 7 or 3rd and 10 seem like climbing Mt Everest.”
No but as we’re taught by every sports commentator since I don’t know when, there’s a thing called “third and manageable,” and as most of us have heard Joe Montana’s take on the subject last year, we get in to too many situations where these are NOT manageable, whether by errant run plays, incomplete passes or sacks. I happen to agree with Joe.
Just a side note on an idea I’ve been thinking about lately…
I think part of our problem (or maybe why this doesn’t look as good as it once did is a better way of putting it) is because the West Coast Offense is a known quantity. It’s been around for so long that teams have figured out ways to blunt it, Tampa Two for example and all of the iterations of that. Harbaugh is of course trying to resurrect the WCO and give it some new life with a bunch of these odd packages, but… it’s an experiment. We all hope it works but this thing doesn’t look as good as the old days because the response to it is way more sophisticated. So maybe our expectations are set too high? We got used to the Walsh innovations and were spoiled for a decade.
But hey, a blowout is a blowout. I’ll take it.
Bring on the Bills!
Adam, 3rd and 7 is Mt Everest with this offense. GR is a disappointment. I was expecting more this year and it’s not happening. Yes a win today but again – the Jets! Not impressive at all!!!
@Adam 3rd and long is indeed difficult. But you’d think Alex could manage to convert at least 1 out of 4 maybe? Hell, even Sanchez managed that.
MSC,
Crabtree and Walker both dropped 3rd down passes that would have resulted in 1st downs.
Rocket according to lemons dropped passes are Alex’s fault. He can’t explain it any other way!
Apparently the pass to Delanie that hit him in the helmet was his fault. Insted of him turning around, getting his hands up and squeezing it, it was that Alex threw it to hard and too high while trying to evade a 300 lbs linemen.
Come on Prime, Alex has to show a little touch on those passes. Pressure or not, the QB’s job is to put it in there and the receiever needs to haul it in the bread basket.
Adam
Back in BW day, there weren’t another 10 teams or so running a variation of it. In addition we kept our coaching staff. So our system didn’t get out till after our staff left for better opportunities elsewhere. When that happened, BW became Lombardi. But the other half to that is teams saw our system in practice every day. Kind of takes the surprise out of seeing it then.
We had a player and system advantage in the 80′s. In the 90′s, it was reduced to player advatage only. In the 00′s, it was no advantage. Now we are trying to get both and win before we lose the system advantage.
Sea lost and hopefully AZ too!
Prime – I told you to give the 4 points and cash in on Niners. I hope you listened. :-)
Pre JH Alex would throw deep seam routes to VD. Rarely do it any more. So I don’t think it is can’t it is JH does not want to throw deep down the middle. Too many bad things can happen. This Offense is set up as a very low risk system.
agree and was waiting for someone to note this.
in the Sing era, Alex looked the best when we were down 13-21 points and he had to drop back and just fling it – he brought us back a couple of times and showed some good intermediate passing skills
in the JH era, they seem to have put more of a harness on him, or he’s gone into that shell that qbs can sometimes go into. Alex has some flaws that not even JH can fix (field vision, primarily) but he has shown some real passing talent at times.
i’m sure the JH/Roman offense has all the required plays, but somehow the connections arent all there yet.
Here’s my grade: “W”
Lol +1
I’m not sure about the coaching grade. 34-0 is 34-0. A shutout is very rare in the NFL so the defensive coaches have to be given an A+
Roman had to be cute on offense because normal plays were failing as usual. He recognized the limitation on offense and worked around it to generate 21 points. That’s not bad coaching, that’s just smart.
There was no limitation on Offense. The run game was just dominant, so he focused on the run. THAT is good coaching. We abandoned the run in the Minn. game for no reason.
Revisionist history 3 hours after the game? At least wait a day.
The run game really wasn’t dominate. FG was horrible in the 1st half and was only 21 carries for 62 yds. KH picked up some very easy yds at the end of the 4th qtr. Take out the 50 yds by CK and the running game was mediocre.
Agree Nolan.
Our passing yardage was so low because this is still a league where if you can run it, there is no reason to pass as long as your D limits points. And a shutout certainly limits points.
We only lose this game in the 2nd half if we pass it all over the place which risks Int’s/fumbles. Hand it off, we’ll win. And that is the goal. Not to pass it for a zillion yards.
DS, the QB AS played poorly. He missed two easy scores on deep throws. He needs to get better. Two good games and now two poor games. He is inconsistent. This game should have been over sooner.
Hof, really? The 9ers had nearly double the amount of yards rushing than they did passing. It’s not often a team rushes for 245 yards in the NFL. Perhaps FG didn’t have great stats but the 9ers as a team dominated the game because of the rushing attack.
hof
You’re over-reacting man. If AS was horrible, what adjective do you use to describe Sanchez?
Horrible is turning the ball over a bunch due to stupid decisions. 0 TO’s. Good audibles.
AS was just above average. Had Tokufu not been held, he gets a TD. Stop worrying about plays that would have been called back anyway due to penalty. Then you’re crying about somebody else screwing up.
As a vet here, you know damn well that as the week goes by on this blog, it gets more negative. Wins turn to losses, or so one would be led to think if they didn’t know better. If the blog isn’t happy right now, that doesn’t bode well for the latter period of the week. You’re one of the guys who bring positive thoughts. Can’t afford to lose that man.
hof
You’ve been a little hard on KH. He did a great job. 7 yards a rush. Our OL tore their DL apart. Look at that and get hyped.
DS, Smith wasn’t that great to look at. In all fairness though, neither were the receivers – other than MM who made a couple nice plays.
Smith’s critics last year liked to use the new ESPN TQBR stat. Using that though, he’s still above average, 70 something (so 20 points above average) but it really was kind of a lackluster performance, I agree with Hofer. Two pretty good games, one pretty bad game and this one was just… meh… ho hum. Sort of mailed it in.
If the Jets weren’t completely inept this might have been a game.
Time zone stuff is tough, I expect the team to look better next week at home. Hopefully they don’t too much more of this trick stuff – it’s not all that.
BUT!! The important thing is: 3-1!
Here come the Alex Smith Excuses. Pitiful. Own up to the fact the kid had a really bad game. He launched balls off helmets and behind receivers. It’s not the end of the world, but Alex Smith was bad today. Mark Sanchez was worse.
Adam
1. We didn’t attempt a lot of passes. So a few bad passes show up more.
My point is you can’t just apply “If he..” to AS exclusively. If the WR’s (as you point out) made a few more plays, Smith looks better. If the refs (were those the scabs or not? They messed up a few times) call things right, we blow them out earlier.
And I think we win no matter what. Alex barely played the 4th. Some teams pass a lot in this instance. And they get a lot of garbage time yards. We play an all around “A” game we win by 50+. But that isn’t realistic. If the Jets don’t suck, AS plays better. JH has instilled in him the property to do what you need to win. Had it been needed, Alex plays better. As it were, the Jets weren’t n the game, so AS wan’t as focused as he is in close games. That happens all the time to players. Wish it didn’t, but in no way am I mad about it. Like taxes to me.
Chris,
I’m not saying Smith had his best game, he definitely didn’t, but isn’t a ball off of a receiver’s helmet sort of on target?
I found Daryl Johnston’s commentary interesting regarding the game planning – although, for the life of me I don’t understand the logic. I don’t think Johnston understood the logic either but was too polite to say much about it.
Essentially: The Niners offense mimicked the Jets offense with the Tebow/CK substitutions and the gimmicks. Roman wanted to out-do his old comrades.
I don’t get it. I didn’t get the Vikings plan either.
To me it’s play the way you played to beat the Packers and the Lions and all those other guys last year. Quit fooling around with these low percentage passes, run the ball and then take what the defense gives you in the passing game.
I just don’t get these last two games but a W is a W. I’ll take it.
Adam, as usual we are in sync. I don’t get this offense yet. They draft a WR and RB in the 1st and 2nd down. They sign MM and RM. They run when they should pass. They pass when they should run. They have no sense of urgency when they are down by more than one score. I’ve been spoiled by BW. lol
Adam
The theme of the last week here was deep passes. Last year Tom Brady was 1/15 on passes that travelled over 40 yards in the air. So keep that in mind while reading how AS isn’t a good deep ball passer.
DS, the QB play today was not good. Leave it at that!
hof
Please quote where I said the QB play was “good”. Some here tend to put words into my posts, then get pissed about the words they added into my post and express that towards me, blaming me. Look at yourselves for a change as to why you get mad about my posts.
In my 5:16 post I said he was just above average. Why can’t you be cool with that?
I’m saying he/CK isn’t horrible. He did what he had to do. We won. Be happy for at least a day. Is that asking too much? You’ve been around to long if my request is asking too much.
I said from the start of the draft that we’ve added a lot of new guys in FA as well. It takes time for that to gel. So far, I’m right. So far we are 3-1 and we haven’t gelled. Wait till we do. The playoffs will start at about that time.
Why does anybody care if we are like the Ravens or the Pack or the Pats, etc?
We all know JH is pretty much alone on his approach. And that nobody has a better record since last year than his approach has gotten us.
I’m glad nobody is like us. We’re good. I have no desire to be normal and not good. This team is the best. Anybody. Anywhere. Anytime.
In JH I trust.
Since week 9 of 2011, Whisenhunt has the best record in the NFL going 11-2. He beat SF and their style. Jim Harbaugh is going to have to adapt to a more agressive style to beat the contenders in 2012
Nice ‘heads-up’ Chris. The Cards looked like they had a glitch against the Dolphins today. But they were probably overlooking at the Fins the way we did last week against the Vikes.
The Cards and the C-hawks will not be easy wins for anyone this year.
Jason
Please don’t handpick times. What was the record before week 9? And is his winning % since ALL of last year higher?
You’re just really, really bored with writing based upon your post above.
We are proven and legit, the Cards have a lot more to prove.
Alex wins another!
Prime, AS contribution was minimal at best.
As one Jets beat writer tweeted in the 3rd quarter with the score 10-0, “If Alex Smith had any touch on his passes he would have 3 TD passes by now.”
I don’t know about touch, but he missed them that’s for sure!
Here’s my guess Hof. They are figuring out who goes where in this offense and how during the first haother the season. In the meantime they are going to play to the strengths of the defense and run game by limiting the risks on offense.
After the bye week we are going to see the playmakers more involved. Right now they are trying to get everyone in to see who those reliable guys are. Think about Vernon today, they called his number what maybe 4 times? How many catches did he have? Not many.
We barely saw Moss out there today and K Williams was a ghost. My prediction is we will see more Mario, Crab, Vernon targeted more frequently and the rest of those other guys wont even see the field.
To me they are trying to hard to get everyone involved. Moss and Williams are non factors. Stick to Mario and Crabs in every run and pass situation and let them develop come hell or high water.
Hofer,
Smith just doesn’t get enough air under the ball to let his receiver make a play.
BS says ” This team is the best. Anybody. Anywhere. Anytime.”
What happen last week, did you already forget any given Sunday we can lose a game. Did we win the Super bowl last year precious. All you are is a cheerleader.
This team has not won a Super Bowl precious, get off your white horse dummy.When if we win the Super bowl you can take out your Poms Poms
Neal
Go way until you can write posts that a decent person can write.
“All you are is a cheerleader.”
And what? your cynicism makes you a sophisticated connoisseur of the game?
Our offense is designed to keep smith check down happy. If kap comes into this offense n throws deep on his chances n use ppl like moss n mann like they are supposed to be used, lik wr not rb, n not like all time decoys then i belive it will start a qb contreversy n smith couldnt handle it. Harbaugh has held his hand since day 1. If he does him like sing n nolan it will crush his phyche. Oh n for the record, i have no problem with wat sing n nolan did. These are grown men n if every qb in the nfl needed to be coddled like this, where would the leauge be? Hindsight ladies n gents we are in this sitattion until smith can stop being afraid to throw the damn ball. In my opinion harbaugh crested this smith he cant replace him now it would break smiths heart
If CK makes passes like his 1 to RM, you’re right. There will be a QB controversy. Calling for AS. Because that pass had Int written al over it. And then we’ll lose.
By the way, 1 TD does not outweigh 1 INT. Not even close.
Overreating again DS? (lol)
Relax, AS is safe bud.
AS was off today especially on the long ball. FG was off today as well. This offense is really torture to watch. Yes they won, but they need to get some consistency working here. It was ugly at best. Luckily they were playing an imploding Jets team!
AES
Over reacting is Neal and company not being able to write a decent post. Over reacting is saying CK threw a great deep pass into 3-coverage in his only attempt and getting the QB controversy started based upon that.
Please get the facts straight. Ok.
Hof your starting to sound like some people on here that have no idea. The game plan was ground and pound. Alex made the necessary completions and followed the game plan perfectly. We are not a vertical passing team, never will be, even if Kap starts next Sunday.
Everyone needs to understand who the 49ers are and what their formula of winning is. It works and yes its no bells and whistles but any criticism of the offense needs to be pointed to JH/Roman. It’s run heavy, no turnovers, and play/live for another down.
You can say Alex had a bad game but he won with the plays called and did his job. Don’t start examaning every throw, you look stupid doing that. Every QB misses throws. Screw the haters, we won, that’s all that matters.
Prime, if that’s the case – ground and pound, I don’t like the offense plain and simple. You can disagree all you want. The 9ers need to be able to turn on a vertical pass play when they are losing like last week in Minn. Where’s the no huddle when they are behind?? If they can’t, don’t expect much in the playoffs unless they become more consistent. I’ve been spoiled. This is not an offense that excites me to say the least. If you enjoy it, then good for you!
It’s JH’s way. History shows that. Today’s game was painful but the end result was not. The offensive approach changes from game to game. We may see elements of vertical passing but the blueprint says run the ball and dont turn it over. Minimal risk is what they are after.
I’m not discouraged. It’s still evolving and today we seen the evolution of Mario M. Give it time. If we’re having this discussion after the bye week, you have full permission to slap me silly? A win in the NFL is hard enough, don’t drag it down by looking to far ahead. We will be a very dangerous team come playoff time.
hof
We lost to the Vikings because we did the worst thing a team can do. We voluntarily didn’t play the game that we play best. We tried being something we just aren’t. Our run game was working hof.
I told undercenter just before the NO game. Make the other team change what you do best. Don’t do it yourself. Make them expend energy to do so. It worked. We did. We won.
I can’t believe you are saying we need to pass deep. We didn’t lose the title game last year because we don’t throw deep. We didn’t lose to the Ravens last Thanksgiving, or the Vikings because we didn’t pass deep. We lost because we lost the TO battle. That is why. We won in NO/today because we won the TO battle. It is that simple for us. We are the bet team if we don’t screw up. We didn’t today. We shutout a team on the road. How often does that happen?
I’m agreeing with DS which means I’m probably about to die from some strange South American fever. The 49ers do NOT need to pass the ball more. We saw what happened last week when the 49ers went pass happy. The training wheels need to stay on Smith.
The 49ers need to stick to the Harbaugh/Schembechler offense with lots of creative runs and limited quarterback participation. When the 49ers pass bad things happen. Just give the ball to Gore, Hunter and various WRs on fly sweeps. We have a QB who is fantastic at handing off the ball – play to his strength.
The Schembechler offense won’t win a Super Bowl. The Niners need more from their quarterback.
MSC, FG wasn’t good today. I was hard on KH because of his limited play in the 1st half but FG was subpar. He didn’t look quick today. They can leave the training wheels on CK and AS but the play calling is suspect.
msc
It’s a strange sensation for you since that feeling is the one that is true and right.
:- )
Prime
Is it just me, or am I reading hofs posts like he means it? Is he sarcastic today? And I, one who doesn’t sway from sarcasm just not reading his comments correctly?
DS – Are you being a little pesky about Hofer’s vertical passing comment?
Hofe is just saying we need to open up passing game when trailing at the end of a game and in danger of losing.
Hofer wants to see a no-huddle offense (sense of urgency) when we are losing in 4th quarter. What’s wrong with that DS?
The Niners chewed up valuable time against the Vikes in the 2nd half, no-huddle would’ve helped.
I got your back Hofe. Lol
Crab, thanks! I’m really frustrated with this offense. I’m not so impressed with JH/GR and their scheme.
DS94everXev says:
September 30, 2012 at 5:27 pm
“If CK makes passes like his 1 to RM, you’re right. There will be a QB controversy. Calling for AS. Because that pass had Int written al over it. And then we’ll lose.
By the way, 1 TD does not outweigh 1 INT. Not even close.”
@DS
No DS, overreacting is using a hypothecal scenario like you did in your last line above.
CK7 did not throw an INT so perhaps it’s best you get your facts right bud.
OABTW, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit to hear Harbaugh expose the fact that he called the pass to RM.
Afterall, RM has made a HOF type career in tracking down those passes even when surrounded by defenders.
All Harbaugh needed in that situation was someone who could throw it that far. He found one. No INT, no harm.
Time to move on bud, no need to blemish a good game by CK7.
It doesn’t bode well for your “In Harbaugh I Trust” committment (lol).
DS the game today was not very pleasant to watch from an excitement perspective. People, HOF included are overreacting over nothing.
I think people got a little too excited about this whole new weapons they brought in hype. One the WR position needed it because of depth and production, but did anyone really think Harbaugh was going to change his philosophy and become this pass first, pass last offense. C’mon man!
I see it evolving more now that they know who works and who does not. Mario M and Crabtree work, Moss does not. Play them and play them all the time. Use Vernon and Gore and sprinkle in the odd Williams in the slot. Too much substituting going on, cant establish any rhythm or continuity.
C15
Did you read that article about deep passing? Everybody thinks it separates elite QB’s from others, but it really doesn’t. Tom Brady threw 1/15. He missed 14/15. If a WR dropped 14/15, he’d be crucified. Those passes are hard to complete. The fact Brady was 1/15 and is considered to be elite should tell you how silly this vertical passing point is.
And I was upset about last weeks slow tympo with 7 minutes left. I don’t know how much hof has talked about that but it last week. Not today.
It just seems like hof is madder now than he was last week after we lost. And he thought we’d be a different style offense and things go smoothly from the start. That is foolish. If JH wanted that, we get PM. We aren’t going to pass 300 a game. He fooled himself if he thought we would be. Luck didn’t throw 330 yards a game in college. And he was the best in over a decade. That tells you something.
Over 200 yards rushing tells you something as well. That we won.
Hofe – Were only 25% into the regular season so give it a little more time bro.
I thought CK7 looked good out there today.
Do you think CK7′s playing time was a Harbaugh/Roman ploy, to get Alex to step up his game? Or is it something else?
MC had a weak game today. Manningham lookin good.
Crab, I don’t know. I do know that FG wasn’t running well when CK scored his running TD. It seems like they are resorting to gimmicks to make the offense work. They need to get the passing offense up to par. You see other teams with worse records playing better offense, but their D isn’t elite like the 9ers. JH inherited a good D and I haven’t seen the improvement with the offense to date. We’ll see how this progresses.
@Prime you seem upset. Please tell me which “slants” against the Precious were incorrect. Are you implying he’s a great passing quarterback?
The Jets are a terrible team. Sanchez has only completed 43% of his passes over the last 3 games now, and their defense is giving up an average of 173 yards per game on the ground. The win is great, but if they play this way on offense against the better teams on the schedule it might not turn out so well for them. There are a lot of areas for concern, especially on offense as they move forward.
The best news from today is that as bad as the Jets are, the 49ers have games coming up against 2 teams worse than them, and both are at home. Bring on them Bills!
AES
Hof is saying “If you take away CK runs…” That is hypothetical stuff. If AS threw that same ball, people would complain about it. If you don’t think they would, please see a neurologist. That was a horrible pass. Much worse than anything AS has thrown in 2 years. 3 covered. Didn’t look any place else. Didn’t give his WR much a shot at it. Making up hs mind before the play developed. Tell me you’ve heard JM say that is good QB play. Do you think JH told him to throw it no matter what? I very much doubt that. Will JH blame CK? Nope. In the meeting room though that pass will get more than 3 seconds discussion.
PS What do you call posts like Neals then?
Prime
I guess I’ve changed my definition of excitement. Evolved from whatever it may have been before, or what it is to many still here. I supported a team that didn’t have winning record in a decade. Exciting to me is 34-0 on the road. If people don’t get that, oh well.
@lemons, how could I be upset, the 49ers won, dude I’m over the moon right now!
You have been “slanting” Alex forever, no one cares except for the winning. Great passer, plodder, inaccurate, diapers, it all means very little cause the key thing I care about is the 49ers going out on Sunday, on the road, cross the country and getting a WIN.
If it felt like a loss to you, that’s your sorry attitude. At the end of the day, they dont ask how, they ask how many, that’s W’s.
If your slants against Alex are actually truthful, the organization would have or will move on without Alex. But so far, they have not cause he is a winner. So to answer your question, do I think he’s a great passing QB? I say, Who gives a royal hoot? Win, that’s his job and that’s all he has been doing. Until he doesn’t, Precious is the Man!
DS94 – I didn’t see the deep passing article, do you have the link?
To me,
Elite QB’s have great arm strength, they’re great leaders (their teammates believe in them), they’re confident, accurate passers, have great footwork, can run when needed, comfortable in the pocket, they keep their playmakers happy, they’re fearless, can escape a pass rush, can make a play on a broken play, manage a game well, can read defenses well, clutch with game on the line, have a killer instinct and can win playoff games.
I’m sure I left a few things out.
I better let Hofe speak for himself on what offense he thought we were going to have.
@Prime in your long, whiny diatribe you never answered my question.
Which of my “slants” against the Precious were incorrect?
It’s a simple question. Even a simple person should be able to answer it.
@lemons, A win is a win is a win. There’s your answer.
That’s not an answer Prime. I thought even a simple person like you could answer a simple question.
You may be less than simple.
Grant, agreed. They also need more from their OC.
Agreed.
Grant says “The Schembechler offense won’t win a Super Bowl. The Niners need more from their quarterback.
The offense is still evolving and you have no idea what wins superbowl. No one does cause if they did, everyone would do it. Let’s see how it all plays out again, and the wins or loses will tell all. So far the winning is ahead of all the false predictions.
“The Schembechler offense won’t win a Super Bowl. The Niners need more from their quarterback.”
1) I agree but the 49ers QB situation is what it is. And hey, Dilfer managed it so not all hope is lost.
2) How did you sneak a replay into the middle of an active thread like that? Grant = Blog Ninja.
We can win the super bowl this year. We just need a different QB to do it.
I’ll say it again. WARM KAEPERNICK UP! And keep him in this offense until you are ready to install him permanently. He will be ready to start come week 8. Keep giving him series and packages. Alex Smith is not only missing throws. He also missing receivers without making throws at all. Crabtree should have 3 touchdowns this year. Kap takes usnto the super bowl.
C15
Mood found this several days back, and nobody bothered looking at it. Considering how much time this blog spent on the topic…that is why I think there are times this blog isn’t here to discuss but to fight.
http://www.hogshaven.com/2012/9/4/3291805/lies-damn-lies-and-statistics-dont-trust-the-deep-ball-passing-attack
Now, other elite QB’s were better (not hard to get better than 1/15) but they all still sucked.
AS has looked better this year throwing the intermediate passes. That is all we really need anyway.
Kaepernick’s pass had INT written all over it?! Go back and look CLOSELY at the tape. I did. That play is ONLY called for Randy Moss. He has caught triple covered TD’s for his ENTIRE career. After watching the tape, Randy actually had the ball. One of those DB’s knocked the ball out with his left hand. Further, it was actually a tremendous throw, one that Alex could dream of making. Go ahead and check it out. Or not, and just wallow in your hate. Bottom line, Alex has one year left on his contract. kaep is COMIN
Scott Ostler saw it more like I did. Don’t be shocked. An underthrown pass into 3 coverage isn’t a good idea ever unless it is a hail mary.
Find me a quote from a real HC who differs with my opinion. Psych wards don’t count.
Go check Randy Moss youtube highlights. You’ll get your fill of Randy catching double and triple covered TD’s. You’ll see Tom Brady making that same kind of throw Kaep made. But he ONLY made those throws to Moss, not his other receivers. By contrast, Kaepernick would never have made the same throw to Crabtree, Ginn, or Williams. Why? Because they are not the FREAK. The FREAK is the ONLY one that they call that play for. That said, it was a HELLUVA THROW. Randy was able to make a play on the ball. If one of the DB’s hadn’t knocked out of his hand, we would be having different conversation. Class is out.
You sound more confident about that than just about any GM. Last week in Minnesota, RM couldn’t get up 5″ to get that high pass from AS. Had he done so, he’s running for lots of YAC. If he manages to put a move on, it’s a TD.
You are referencing plays made 3 years ago. And Tom Brady was instramental in getting rid of Moss mind you. While I’m excited to have Moss, I don’t think he is remotely the aerial WR he once was. Not because I have some pre-conceived notion, but because I saw him not be able to get up into the air once on several high passes. Until RM does, I am sticking by my statement. Hopefully RM proves me wrong in the playoffs. I’d love that.
RM is getting double covered and there are easy yards to be made throwing to him more, sure. The coaches know more than we do Jai.
In JH I trust.
I would like to see CK get a whole series to run, not just one play. I don’t know this isn’t done more. Every other player subs out. Willis is one of the best if not the best at his position and he sat out a big chunk of the Green Bay game. It is all about the team and if that means Alex gives up a liitle playing time to CK, so be it.
Yeah 7X7 he will get series’ to try. Because what happens is you start tipping your hand to other teams. If he’s put in, other teams will immediate think he’s going deep. It opens up the running for him or vice/versa. If you have him run a whole series, they won’t know what the hell he’s gonna do.
Amen
Buffalo at home next week. New England put up 52 on them today, Brady had 340 and 3 TDs. This means Alex should be able to get back up to his normal 150-175 and a TD on them. Hey after today’s 143/0, that’s raising the bar! (LOL)
Alex was bad Sanchez was horrible to bad qbs playing one other but we got the win all that matters go 9ers
This was probably Smiths worst game since Cincinnati last year. He just looked confused and not focused. Hope he bounces back.
After looking fantastic against Green Bay, Smith seems to have regressed to 2009 form in the last few games. Kind of weird. I wonder if that’s the reason we saw a lot more of Kaepernick today.
Kaepernick was used for a change of pace.
MSC,
Kap was used because it is becoming more and more evident to this coaching staff that when they give Smith the reigns, he spits the bit. The gameplam in the Viking game emphasized the pass. They trusted Smith, he let them Down. May as well let Kap play against an inferior opponent. I said he would play this week. He is going to continue to het more and more time.
@Jack do teams generally bring in a change of pace QB if the starter is performing well?
The only time I’ve seen a change of pace QB in recent years is if the starter looks like Moore or Sanchez.
CK ran for 50yds! His pass play was piss poor. He’s not a savior and the playcalling is what it is. What leads you to believe CK is the second coming?? Based on what?
@Hofer I don’t believe CK7 is the second coming. Right now he looks like a very raw Steve Young or Michael Vick. His upside is intriguing due to his physical skills. We’ve already seen Alex’ ceiling.
The fact remains, no one in the NFL brings in a change of pace QB if the starter is performing well. Harbaugh and Roman decided a change of pace was necessary with Smith. Do you still trust in Harbaugh?
I’m not sure I trust JH and GR. Tough to say but this offense isn’t innovative or creative. It’s tough for me to say that because I have been a big supporter. I don’t like the offense. I thought they would be vastly improved this year. There are 13 more games I hope GR proves me wrong!
Hofer,
I agree with you. After spending the week in Ohio, I was expecting them to be sharp and focussed. The D was. The O certainly was not. Outside of the running game, both play calling and execution was poor on offense. Like MSC said, perhap, JH and company don’t want to emphasise a weakness – i.e. their passing game.
msclemons he looked his best in the Lions game. “Few” means 3. He’s looked great 2 games, and mediocre the other two, stop stretching the truth. If it wasn’t for drops in the Lions game, it would’ve been a near perfect performance.
2 good games + 2 bad games = inconsistent
That’s been the story of Alex Smith’s career
Ground and pound and dominant D…..Whatever it takes until passing game improves.
Yup. We saw that this Offense is improved in the first two games. It will take time to get some consistency. Manningham looks fantastic. The key is to be patient, intelligent, and not overreact like most niner fans.
First, GO NINERSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! we needed this game. Now lets get to the comments on this blog: Somebody said this was not so much the 49ers beating the jets but this was a game they could have not lost! whatever dude! this is the NFL and any team can beat the other team. Our defense showed up and shut downd their offense. Now I was very disappointed with the offensive performance. We have the Oline, the backs, TD and WR to score points and our Offense was scary today. Alex just did not look right, he appeared confused or timid. Maybe he was worried to make a mistake! I dont know but Alex can play alot better than how he played today. I really hope Alex and the offense can gel and put some points up next game against Buffalo. GO NINERS
I think you misread the comment. The Jets did everything they could to lose this game and when that didn’t work, they just tried harder. A high school team would have beat the team wearing the Jets jerseys on the field today. The Jets had 4 turnovers. When SF didn’t score on the first two, what do the Jets do? They throw the ball at the SF defender to run the turnover back for a TD. That was a gift wrapped present.
I’m not taking anything away from SF Defense. SF defense did what SF offense wasn’t doing. They scored.
SF offense played a horrible game with Smith throwing. So, as awesome as this win is, the Jets did more to lose this game than SF offense did to win it. That’s what that comment meant.
I think timid is a good word for it. Smith looked very indecisive in the pocket today. He looks so afraid to make a mistake it’s a little disheartening to watch. They showed a field level view on one of the sacks he took and he had #81 wide open 10 yards directly in front of him. I have no idea how he didn’t see that guy and instead took a sack. I could have missed a defender on that play but 81 looked to be the perfect outlet and Smith completely missed him.
Houston I agree with you. I would like for him to just get loose and play football like the game against saints last year. He has the potential but he is so smart that sometimes just overthinks the coverage. Hopefully next week he can just have fun and play QB! GO NINERS
I wish I could be as positive as you and some of the other guys on Alex’s play. For me, it’s like the definition of insanity. As they say, insanity is doing the same things over and over but expecting different results. People have been saying Alex overthinks things and is afraid to pull the trigger for 7+ years. People have been saying, it’s the coaches fault, its the receivers fault, it’s everyone’s fault but Smith’s. The Saints game last year was awesome. I did hope Smith would build on that game and start off the year hot but he is the same guy he’s been for 7+ years. I hope he unleashes his talent and stops overthinking everything but we have 7+ years of evidence that says Smith just doesn’t have it in him to just play the game.
HOU, don’t worry pal, there are 31 other teams that don’t have Alex as their QB, chose whichever one you want.
The funny thing is, those 31 teams chose not to have him as their QB. They certainly had their chance during free agency.
You can make your choice Big P if your not happy with what the organization is doing at the QB position. In fact write a letter cause no one cares about it! We care about wins, division titles, and championship. No one knows the last one til we get there, I believe we will, others don’t, let’s see what happens but give Jed York a phone call, let him know how you feel, I’m sure he cares what you will have to say. Let me know how that goes! 3-1, moving onto to the Bills. Alex Smith, winner!
I’ve been a fan of the 9ers since before Smith was alive and I will be a fan of the 9ers long after he retires from football. You go ahead and call your idol a winner after he goes 12/21 for 138 yards and 0 TD’s. Some guys contribute to the win and some guys are along for the ride. Smith did a great job handing the ball off and jogging off the field so CK could get some scores. He’s a great team guy.
Well said Houston.
Houston,
We’ve been beat ting this dead horse since day 1. I have never been impressed with Alex Smith. I’ve heard all of the excuses from a-z. We know what they are. We said there would be no excuses this year. It’s a shame that our team success is predicated on what our defense and special teams does. Alex Smith is not a good quarterback. He has been an anchor on this team for years.
Everyone thought last year was a breakout year for Smith. It wasn’t. I told everyone it was the ceiling. He only plays as well as our defense. Smith can’t win a game for this team. We just have to continue to hope that he does not lose one. We can’t win a super bowl with Smith. The one time our defense let’s us down in the p,shorts, we are going home.
Kaepernick needs to be used now!
PLAYOFFS***
Some guys are along for the ride? You played football right? You should go say that statement to some of your teammates and see what they think.
Your a fan of the 49ers for what they once were under Walsh. You want this team to be like it was 20 years ago. Sorry pal, this is who and what the 49ers are now, new brand of football under JH. Don’t like it, disagree with it, don’t watch or write a letter or call Jed. He actually might listen to your horse s$$t cause he has to.
Tell me how winning is not everything. If Alex is just a mirage, why didn’t the Jets load the box up with 9 guys and force him to pass? If you guys think he cannot throw and the Vikes exploited him, lets see what the other teams do moving forward. Until then, you cannot deny the wins. They are what they are. It’s too bad you can’t see that winning is the only thing that counts.
@Prime, You don’t know me you brown eyed mullet so don’t pretend to say why I’m a fan of this team. I’ve been a fan since the days of Brodie. My family have been fans since the 50′s. Perhaps you don’t know this but this team has a long history of great QB play. Joe Montana was certainly the greatest 49er QB but he wasn’t even close to being the first great 9er QB. Alex Smith does nothing to further the legacy of 49er QB’s. He’s most definitely along for the ride on a team of great players. There is most definitely a new brand of 49er football and I absolutely love it. The only disappointing factor right now is that the 9ers have a roster that can win the Superbowl but the most important position on the field is being handled by a guy who just might cost the rest of this team an opportunity to play for the Superbowl. Now run along little boy. You have no place speaking back to adults.
HOU, I have green eyes and no need to name call just cause I’m right and your wrong. Keep watching Alex accumulate the wins pal, that’s all that counts!
Brown eyed mullet has nothing to do with eye color. It is a term used in Australia with a very specific meaning. Look it up. It fits you to a T.
Prim,
You are a broken record. I have been and will always be a die hard Niner fan. You are a Alex Smith fan, nothing more. Your desperate lobbying for CK to be traded is pathetic, as is your “find another team” ramblings. Nobody cares. We are 49er fans, and have the right to discuss what we wish to discuss when we want to. If you don’t like it, nobody cares.
Houston 9er,
He would probably think it was a Baby Ruth and go Bill Murray on us.
Judging from most of his posts he’s been on a Bill Murray diet for years because he’s full of it.
Lol, amen brotha.
Alex Smith had an awesome game against the Saints, but I’ve watched 4 teams now come back to beat the Saints. I’m starting to wonder just how good they really were when Sf beat them. Of course it’s irrelevant.
Changing the subject, SF really only has to win 7 of the next 12 games to be in the playoffs. that’s just 1 game over 500. That’s freaking exciting.
Alex Smith can continue to struggle and SF’s D should be able to split 1 more than half of the next 12 games.
I am not picking SF to go to the Superbowl though. I can’t blame it all on Alex Smith. I blame the OC too. I think the combo of those two will keep SF out of the superbowl.
Houston,
Prime is on the Alex Smith defense team. A different Alexcuse every week. Just last week, he and BS were talking about Smith getting a new 10- 12 million dollar contract next year. They got the contract mixed up with a pink slip. Smith is a liability and he won’t be long for this team. We learned that we can’t win a super bowl with him last year. We know it this year.
The beauty is, the Alex Smithers are few and far between. They are finally starting to see the writing on the wall. I’ve seen it for years. Kap will make it right. Smith won’t make it at all.
The grades are ok but I don’t think you can give the WR’s a D but the QB gets a C. I would also give the WR’s a C. The Manningham drop was bad. It was a perfectly thrown pass that MM should have attempted to catch with both hands. Smith threw a poor slant to Crabs where Cromartie was able to defend the play because Smith threw the ball high. Crabs ran a good route and shielded Cromartie from the ball but Smith put it in the only place Cromartie could have made a play. A lower pass at the belt or even a little lower and Crabs has it for a first down. Point is the WR’s and the QB share in the lack of an effective passing attack to the WR’s. The 9ers have a good group of receivers so there is no excuse for only having 1 TD to a WR in 4 games. If the coaches agree that the 9er receivers are playing at a D level then why not activate AJ Jenkins? What’s to lose? I don’t think they are playing at a D level. I think the 9ers receivers have been at a solid C so far this year.
He’s giving the QB’s a C because of the hybrid RB CK.
So Smith gets a D and CK gets a C?
Houston – I give QB’s and WR’s both a C (AS A GROUP).
Without Manningham WR’s get a D and without Kaepernick QB’s get a D.
Crab, I agree with that. AS, MC, and RM were not good today. MM was very good. AS missed two scores that he needs to hit. DW is a disappointment. GC was correct. The 9ers should have drafted CFleener.
Boy I have to agree on that about DW. Seems like he has played very poorly all year. Not sure how you can say RM played poorly. He had one pass thrown his way and he drew triple coverage. Are you seeing that he isn’t getting open? Seems like he’s only used as a decoy and he’s been extremely effective at that. Also don’t see how you can say MC played poorly. He was ok. Not great but I wouldn’t say he played at a D level.
Hofe – I would’ve passed on both CF and AJ.
I would’ve traded down with that 30th (first round pick) for the Saints 2013 first round pick.
Saints go 0-16 and we get #1 overall pick! Lol
ROFL Crab – you might be right! The Saints look horrible so far.
The outcome of today’s game definitely did not feel as good as the dominating score indicates to the naked eye because for the most part it was driven by what the Jets could not do on offense. As inept as they were offensively, credit also must be given to the 49ers defense because the unit did shut down the running game and make Sanchez look like a cigar store Indian most of the time. The Jets really have no passing game and no personnel to frighten an opponent. Holmes really is not a true #1 receiver despite what his ego may think, and Sparano’s offensive game plan appeared to be designed by a defensive coordinator who wanted to shut it out.
We were able to win big today with Alex’s 143/0 stats only because Sanchez somehow managed a way to be even WORSE. Add that to a couple of wild big plays like the blocked punt and the knee blow-out fumble returned for the TD, and you know that the Angels were really looking down on us today. Hopefully the light clicks on for Alex and this offense at some point. After all, this is the infamous “year 2 in the same offense”, the year so many claimed would be the fix, the year he was supposed to finally look like a number 1 pick. And the only word that comes to mind right now is ‘eh’.
I do agree with 23 Jordan though….I think Kaep is getting more play for a reason. I think the leash is short, as it should be.
I don’t see the downside to letting CK have a series or two. I think the odds are he will have more turnovers than AS, but he will likely have a lot more explosive plays. I am concerned with the offense. Unless defense and special teams are outstanding, they can’t get more than one score ahead. When behind, the offense showed no urgency and took too few risks. Losing an INT deep in your opponents territory isn’t the worse thing in the world. Not when the alternative is playing safe, then missing a field goal or having it blocked and giving the ball to your opponent at the 45. That is essentially a turnover.
9er1,
Everything that happened last year happened for a reason.
1. We go after Peyton Manning, but he chooses Denver.
2. We offer Smith a series of 3-1 year deal with out clauses.
3. Smith takes a free agent visit to Miami.
4. Smith was clearly betrayed by the staff, and it hurt.
5. Smith is no better than last year, JH knows he is limited, that’s why the playbook is limited. I’ve been saying it for 2 years . Without JH, Smith would still be horrible. With Harbaugh, Smith is just average. Average will not win this team or any team in the NFL, a superbowl.
23 we don’t have to worry about that anymore. The coaches get where the bar is set and that’s exactly why they are rolling out CK7 as a wildcat more and more. Today was a great day to really roll it out and they sure did. Teams will be riddled beyond belief with both of the QB’s.
They even lined him up as a WR and almost pulled off thievery with CK7 wide open near the sideline, he faked talking to the ref while walking off the field and just stopped and stayed there. Alex should have snapped the ball immediately before Jets noticed and called timeout.
The duo threat is really dangerous now so I stay stick with it until CK7 can really just do it all. He’ll need to learn how to throw ball away, throw it softer in certain situations, learn to slide safely, call audibles etc.
For whatever reason, I am not concerned about the offense one bit. Maybe it’s because our defense is so good, I don’t know, but I’m not worried at all. It’s still early in the season.
Smith hasn’t done anything the past couple games, but again, I’m not the least bit concerned. I have faith that he will play well down the stretch. I still think he will have a great season and haven’t lost any confidence in that prediction. He is the guy for this team. That being said, I am glad to see Kaepernick get a few plays every game; I think he has a bright future in the NFL.
Oh and whats up with Delanie Walker? He’s always been one of my favorite players; I always thought he was vastly underrated. It seems like he can’t catch anything the past year or so.
Delanie had a knee injury late last year. I think they cut off his hands to cure it.
msc
I thought it was a jaw injury that kept him out of the NO playoff game.
I had DW as my surprise cut before the season started. I am anxiously awaiting for the time I say “What was I thinking!” I’m hoping it comes in the playoffs when it matters most.
You are correct DS – it was a jaw injury.
Either way, it seems to have prevented DW from catching a ball.
Oh hey, oneniner figured out a way to get around his ban. Clever!
You know onedolphin, intelligent folks recognize when they aren’t welcome and leave.
msclemons67,
The dirt bag does it every week. Between Oneniner and Latino Heat, Grant truly did kill two birds with one stone!
For those that are thrilled with this ground and pound offense, FG had on 39 yds on his first 14 carries with no run beyond 6 yds. Yes, I’m not ecstatic with this offense. It’s only been 4 games but I don’t see the improvement yet.
hof
Did you hear Rex Ryan speak? He was upset big time his team gave up 250 yards rushing. No team of his has ever allowed that many yards on the ground.
Maybe. Just maybe, we should be proud of that point.
DS, the number 1 RB ran for 62 yards and a 3.0 avg. I’ve never been a fan of a run first offense. Ever. I thought they would be more balanced but the missed plays and the calls were stifling. Hey they won. Good times.
I feel you Hofer. Today’s game felt like a loss but it was a 34-0 win.
Maybe we need to learn to embrace the defense. This offense is going to be frustrating I think.
@Hof, the 9ers have one of the most balanced teams in terms of run/pass ratio. 9ers run about 56% of the time which puts them about middle of the league. The disparity comes in terms of production. The 9ers rank in the bottom 3rd in the league in most passing categories but rank in the top 3rd in the league in most rush categories. I also dislike run first offenses but that is the strength of this team. I hoped for a more balanced offense related to production where teams couldn’t sit with 8 or 9 men in the box but that is what they will do until the passing game comes around.
Houston, I said they obviously have the playbook but the timing of the play selection has been interesting. Where’s the matchups?
Yeah the play selection by Roman seems bizarre at times but the offense is missing opportunities. I think the lack of production is a combination of execution and play calling.
hof
We had like 9 different rushers today account for those 250 or so rushing yards.
If it was 250 yards passing, and there were 9 different receivers and the leading WR had 62 yards, would you be as unhappy about it as you are now with 9 different rushers geting 250 yards?
The WCO wasn’t so pass happy hof. Look at how many attempts JM had per game. The misconception of the WCO is that is pass dominant. If it is, it isn’t by much.
It is an offense that runs the ball which isn’t in a stupid MS fashion. 2 times up the middle while letting the D know it. The WCO runs the ball when it gains positve yards. Opposite of MS.
RC had a lot of yards rushing. Watters did. Hearst did. Garner did. When we didn’t have a great back, we didn’t win a lot of playoff games. We had the best QB/WR’s over 20 years. So, it wasn’t their problem. Our D was pretty good for most of that time. Pass happy teams (- last years NO team, but this year they are not a good running team) don’t have RB’s gain lots of yards. Did Miami have a RB with Dan Marino’s Dolphins? Dan Fouts’ Chargers? Last years GB team? Or last year Pats?
The WCO here is best when the run is a big part of it. Not with a pass dominant approach.
Hofer,
we need a new quarterback. I know it hurts you to think about it but it’s true. It’s time for a new QB. Alex Smith is washed up. Sorry son.
But all he does is win games. You cannot deny that, win is a win, is a win!
C’mon Prime, that’s like saying all Ted Ginn does is win games.
Alex was along for the ride in this win. He handed off the ball and stayed out of the way. CK7 scored more points than the Precious.
He wins games my a$$. This game was won by the D and special teams.
He wins???
We had 245 yards rushing. Our backup sparked the offense and could’ve scored 2 touchdowns. Our defense gave up 165 yards of total offense. Our special teams has blocked punt. Our defense has 3 turnovers.
After all that, you say that a QB with a career .500 record that only improved under this coach, only wins. You are fooling nobody on this blog. It’s only you and BS now prime. Even Hofer has jumped off of the sinking Alex Smith ship. Unfortunately, he confused enough to blame the coaching now. he’s still in denial too. IT’S THE QUARBACK STUPID!!!!!!!!!!
He’s the QB, gets credit for the wins, and blame for the loses. That’s the way it works. Now you guys want to blame him for the loses and put blame on him for the wins, GTF outta here!
Alex Smith was the reason that Mike Singletary said the QB is no more important than any other position in the offense. Alex Smiths effort today is ample proof to support that theory!
Bwahahahahahahahaha!
Prim says: “He’s the QB, gets credit for the wins, and blame for the loses. That’s the way it works.”
Does that stand true when the defense is top 5 but the passing game is bottom 3?
Alex Smith gets blame for the losses? Um, last week you and ds were on here defending alex smith and blaming the defense for the loss. Which one is it, credit for a win and credit for a loss, or just credit for a win and an excuse for a loss?
As a side note, it appears Matt Barkley will be going to the Saints. He can be molded behind Brees. That should be interesting to see.
Chris
I’m going to try this real slow for you
Last week the defense gave up 3 TD drives of 80+ yards. That isn’t good. Why don’t you place a lot of blame on them for that? Because you didn’t.
Last week AS didn’t come thru at the end. That wasn’t good.
When you put two “not-good” things together (actually a lot more than that last week) you get a loss. That isn’t good for anybody.
This week, our defense didn’t give up any 80+ yard TD drives. In fact we gave up no points! That is a good thing.
AS methodically led the Niners down the field. That is a good thing.
So, 2 good things result in a win. Get it?
PS Perhaps if you didn’t give out defense-excuses for poor play, the Alexcuses wouldn’t be given either. Just a thought. Maybe you can criticize the whole team for losing, and the whole team for losing. Like I did. Try it some time. You might like the game, Niners a lot more. If you didn’t attack AS after a loss (heck you’re doing it after a shut out win on the road!) maybe there would be no need to defend a single guy so much.
Chris,
I wouldn’t be so sold on Barkley. He’s another Mark Sanchez type USC QB.
I’m happy with the win but still not satisfied with the offense. The playcalling is way too conservative and the trick plays won’t get it done on a consistent basis. The passing game needs to improve by leaps and bounds. Whether it’s Alex or the overly conservative playcalling by Roman, we will not get far if we don’t throw passes over 15 yards. It’s been 4 games and the passing offense appears worse than even last season and we have more weapons, how does that happen? And Alex needs to get the ball out of his hands faster, he takes way too many sacks holding on to the ball.
Hannah,
All of your concerns are completely legit. However, this is the blog of denial. Too many here just can’t see what is clearly a problem. Alex Smith can’t lead this team to a super bowl. I’ve said it for the past year. Regular season games aren’t good enough. Alex smith is absolutely not the answer.
We will see, no more predictions, especially from you. Enjoy the winning welcher, it only gets better, well for me at least. 3-1 and moving onto the Bills! Alex Smith, clutch, winner, leader!
I wouldn’t be so declarative on that Jordan. Trent Dilfer managed to “lead” a team to a Super Bowl win so it is entirely possible that Alex can manage the same feat.
MSC,
This is a completely different era. Our defense is good. However, we are not those Ravens and this is a different era. An era where the rules are slanted for the offense to have success. We just don’t have a QB to make it happen. Hey, maybe we will get lucky. However, we are concerned because we don’t elieve we will. All we have to do is have a couple of early fumles and get behind by 14 and the game is over for us.
23j, do you think its the playcalling or Smith? Now I know your going to say Smith cause thats all you ever do is blame him, but for once have you considered the fact that the offense Harbaugh wants to employ is run first, limit TO’s, and play to the strength of the defense?
Otherwise how else do you explain playing for a FG at the end of the 1st half?
Do they lack trust in Smith? They could have brought in Kap for a hail mary but decided to play for a FG? Whats your take on the series of events before half?
FDM,
Thanks for using my name. That series before the half was a product of what they feel Smith is capable of. If you remember the preseason, think about the packages each of our QB’s had. Smith had that short game conservative package. Kaepernick had some read option along with some deeper throws outside. Johnsons package was traditional with intermediate and deep balls. Tolzein’s package was similar to Smith’s.
Every package was uses to take advantage of that QB’s strength’s. Alex stayed in that series to try and get him some confidence. You have to remember that Smith is coming to the LOS with 2 plays. How do we know that he is the one not choosing the more conservative play? Smith lacks the confidence in his arm to let it all hang out. He has to trust his arm to make an accurate throw when its there. He just doesnt do the.
Question, did you see the play from the Packer game where Rogers is standing in the pocket and they show this angle ehing him. He trows a TD pass between at least 4 different Saints players on 2 levels of the field. I think the TD was to Nelson. That’s vision in the pocket.
I just don’t think Smith has that. I know you think I hate the guy. I just realize that Alex has some tools but not enough. I just dont think it’s enough. These las 2 games confirm my thinking. He didn’t stink yesterday, but he certainly didn’t play well.
Fair enough 23 j. Your perspective is yours and Im not arguing with it. Enjoy the rest of the season.
I loved the comment from Rex Ryan postgame. “Excuse my language, I was gonna say we got our butts kicked, but we got our a$$ kicked”.
I’ve never bashed Alex before (and hopefully wont start now). However, it appears this is the best Alex can do for the team. Steady performer, no flashy plays. Some games he will play beyond his limitations (NO playoffs), but for the most part he will be the honest plodder that wont lose the game for the niners.
Not sure if Harbaugh is holding him back or this is all he can do. Either way, this is the most unsatisfying shutout I’ve seen.
IMG, not so sure. AS plays his best when this team was behind in the past. I’m not questioning the playbook, but I am questioning the timing of some of the plays. I’m not so sure anything changes if CK plays. Full time or not.
Hofer,
Of course you’re not sure. Every time you’re beautiful blue eyes position is threatened, you don’t think anyone or anything else will do. You are so obsessed with Smith, it kills you to think that someone else will have his job very soon. What team are you going to root for when Smith is not here soon??
“Honest plodder” may be the best description of Alex I’ve ever seen.
You sound like welcher in that by being critical you somehow think your repeated message means something or your trying to be relevant. News flash buddy, go tell someone who cares!
Precious won today, that’s all that counts! Winning ugly or winning with style, who cares, its still winning!
@Prime you don’t think “honest plodder” is a good description of your hero?
Prime:
“I see it evolving more now that they know who works and who does not. Mario M and Crabtree work, Moss does not. Play them and play them all the time. Use Vernon and Gore and sprinkle in the odd Williams in the slot. Too much substituting going on, cant establish any rhythm or continuity.”
@Prime
Agree with your assessment about the offense still evolving. But why not include more plays for CK?
If you believe in your own theory to use what works and dispose of whatever does not, then you now need to add CK to the what works catagory.
If CK is a talent (albeit as a running QB), then find ways to use him in situational moments. CK did more in one game than RM has done over the last 4 games. If inserting CK gives us an advantage against certain defensive alignments it’s all good.
AES, I like CK but he belongs in a pass happy offense. That is probably not happening in SF under Hatbaugh. He deserves to play in that open passing style, he has all the skills to do that. That’s why I say he might bring a good return value.
If they are planning to use him more that’s great. Whatever can help us win, lets do it. Im just not a big believer in gimmick plays ala wildcat. Once there is film on teams that do it, it’s really easy to stop. What did Tebow do today? Nothing cause the Niners were prepared. Pretty sure BUF will be to now that it’s been done by SF/CK.
Since Harbaugh chose Kaepernick, I’m sure he has a plan for him. It sure looks like he is implementing that plan by inserting CK into the game and getting him some experience.
So you’re saying Kaep is a good passer? If he can pass the ball then he should be the 49er starter since the current starter is directing a passing offense that is near the bottom of the NFL in nearly every passing category. Anyone can hand off. Not everyone can pass the ball which has been painfully evident over the last 2 weeks.
Prime,
CK is not ready for a pass happy type offense. Until he can establish himself as an accurate and consistent passing QB trading him will not warrant good return value. His best value for now is exactly the way he’s being used.
I don’t see the Org trading a talent like CK who has yet to scratch the surface on what could be a prosperous career.
If CK does not make any strides as a passer then the team may look to move him.
The sample size of CK7′ play is far to small for the team to risk moving him right now. Tolzien is less ready to hold the fort then CK if AS was to miss any time.
Like AS, CK (and Tolzien) deserve to opportunity to develop under Harbaugh’s tutelage.
As I said at the start of the season, “AS is da man,” and he’s done nothing to change that IMO. But if we can begin to incorporate a good backup in the event AS misses time, it’s all good.
Why can’t we hit the deep ball???
As soon as Kaepernick makes a contribution the Smithers drop the “in Harbaugh we trust” mantra.
This makes me laugh.
MSC, really!!? The running today was helped by 9 total contributors. FG only had 62 yds with a 3.0 avg. If CK is the man, then they should start him if it helps the offense be more explosive. The improvement on offense isn’t happening. Maybe it is GR? Who knows, but to say it is all about AS or JH has lost his credibility/mantra, is weak and uninformed!
Hofer,
We talked about this last week. Teams have caught up to their tendencies on offense and the Niners are having a tough time adjusting. The fact that we have such an elite defense tends to mask some of these deficiencies. It’s a work in process, but I (like you) would like to see more progress.
BigP, that is BS. There should be no excuses for adjustments just because the D is elite. They didn’t play elite last week and they had no answer. To resort to gimmicks is not good. They played a Jets team that is imploding – not that impressive of a win.
Hofer,
Did you understand what I was saying? This offense hasn’t been very good for quite some time. The fact that the defense has been so dominant has usually swept this fact under the rug. That’s not an excuse, that is reality. The defense needs to be playing top notch football for this team to be successful, regardless of the offensive play calling.
BigP, I get it. What I don’t get is JH/GR thinking that the jumbo package is revolutionary. Don’t they work on the no huddle or the 2 minute offense? What is their plan when down by 2 scores continue to run the offense like they are 0-0 in the first qtr? I don’t get it! Maybe they have a plan?!!
Hofer,
I hear you. I expected them to open it up a little bit more for Smith and the offense this year coming off of last season. They are very reactive instead of being proactive, and it is frustrating. Harbaugh likes to bully other teams, but it’s the NFL and the talent levels are much more evenly matched than in the Pac-10. I think he is comfortable riding this defense, but like you said, when the defense doesn’t perform it can get out of hand quickly.
@BigP the 49ers opened it up last week and it was a dismal failure. Not really a surprise that they went back to their comfort zone this week.
Hofer,
Please answer this question for me. When you can see that your QB is out there on the field as nervous as hell. When you see him in the pocket jumping all over everywhere, looking all over everywhere, leaving the pocket for no reason……. tell me how the hell are tou about to go no huddle. Alex Smith can’t even digest what is happening in this offense right now and you want to add some other elements. Your boy has reached his ceiling. He can’t afford to have anymore on his plate.
It is time for a change. WAKE UP HOFER!!! It’s KAEPERNICK TIME!!!!!
Hofer
Game planning needs improvement, but I think more importantly, they need to execute. The Niners took several shots yesterday (2 to MM, 1 to MC, and 1 to RM) and did not connect on a single one. MM tried to one arm a catch, 2 were overthrown by AS, and the bomB by CK to RM was almost caught for a TD.
Nick, that’s the difference between the run and the pass in this offense – they can run on 1st down and gain 1 yd. Then they run again on 2nd down and gain 2 yds. Then it is 3rd and 7 and the pass rush is coming. They don’t move away from the run. You mention 4 pass plays – 4! They don’t connect and they don’t keep trying.
Huh? You won’t find that coming from me, some one serially accused for being a Smither. Harbaugh and Roman are brillant (there I said it, brilliant!) in getting the most out of every player on the roster. All 46 dressed saw action yesterday, 11 different players ran with the ball. If we can shut out teams using the same approach week after week, I say hell yes!
What you won’t find from me, like you will from others, is gloating that player X’s contributions to the team means he’s taking duties over from from player Y. I’ll let the haters play that little game.
Who won the game?
By the looks of some of the comments here, due to our efficient but low yielding aerial game, we were shut out 34-0.
Only in Ribico-land do you call 0 for 5 on 3rd downs efficient.
3rd down…. blah blah blah. Way to focus on one single aspect of the the game. I’ll match your hater comment with:
No turnovers
Pass first play of the game, inc but leading to 14 yard PI. Niner first down.
26 yards on first and 20. Niner first down.
9 yards on first and 10. Niner first down.
23 yards on first and 10. Niner first down. Leading to Niner scoring drive.
12 yards on first and 10. Niner first down. Leading to Niner scoring drive.
12 yards on first and 10. Niner first down. (same drive as above).
25 yards on 1st and 10. Niner first down. Leading to Niner scoring drive.
Yes, that is efficient in ribico and every other-land. How about taking your mindless hater’s comments somewhere else, huh? Maybe a Jets blog. Those wretches would love our “efficiency”.
3rd down blah blah blah.
I believe our best 3rd down conversion game was the Vikings game. How did that turn out? I believe the only game we lost a turnover was the Vikings game.
Between the two, which is more important? Look at last year, as a reference.
“Third down is where quarterbacks make their money” – Alex Smith.
Well, wins aren’t. And wins keep a QB employed. Losses won’t. Turnovers determine win/loss.
How much did you make last year? I bet it was a lot less than the minimum salary of an NFL vet. I’d take that.
Hey, I’m just quoting the Precious. Don’t freak out.
MSC,
The Smithers are on their monthly, if you know what I mean. They can feel it slipping away from the precious as you call him. Hope you can feel it too. CHANGE is coming very soon.
SOMEBODY WARM KAEPERNICK UP!!!!
Grant, Your analysis is total BS. Figure in KP’s QB comstribution, and the QB grade has to be B+. Coaching is an A-. They game planned those plays you call “trick plays”. They saw the Jet’s weaknesses. This game was total domination of the Jets. Overall, it has to average as A- or B+. None of your D ‘s and C’s. Common on, have you forgotten the Singletary years?
I agree. Personally I think Grant is one of the worst graders since my fifth grade teacher.
Your teacher should have held you back, but didn’t?
You have to love Rex Ryan for starting his post-game press conference by saying “Here is the recipe for getting your ass kicked.”
Rex Ryan is an obnoxious clown but I wish there were more coaches in the NFL like him. At least he’s interesting.
He’s the modern Jerry Glanville.
I agree, but I think he’s the type of guy that you would love to play for if he was your coordinator.
In reality, Harbaugh is the same type of guy. 49ers fans love him – everyone else hates him.
So true, so true. We would hate the guy if he wasn’t our coach.
I don’t really love him. I think he’s arrogant and dismissive of the media, when he doesn’t need to be.
That been said, I’m going to gladly take that if it comes with winning.
I just want to know what Ryan did to piss off Harbaugh so much that Harbaugh would unveil Kaepernick against the Jets. It seemed obvious that Harbaugh was showing up Ryan/Tebow/the Jets by showing them how to run an option offense effectively.
I wonder whether there was bad blood between Rex Ryan and John Harbaugh after the Ravens selected selected Harbaugh over Ryan to be the head coach?
I really don’t buy this idea that Harbaugh unveiled the CK read option to stick it to Ryan and the Jets. I honestly don’t think Harbaugh thinks that way at all. If JH was that type of guy, the 9ers would have lobbed multiple bombs to Moss in the Vikings game. IMHO Harbaugh used CK to give the offense a spark after a very lackluster game the week before. There’s nothing more to that story.
C Balls says
I just want to know what Ryan did to piss off Harbaugh so much that Harbaugh would unveil Kaepernick against the Jets
A more likely scenario is that JH probably doesn’t fully trust Alex Smith. That’s why CK saw playing time.
Nick
I guess JH doesn’t trust PW either. He didn’t play so much week 1. Nor did IS.
Care to find a different argument? Unless you mean to imply JH doesn’t trust PW/IS as much as say DW. Then you’re point is well made.
Looks Nick or is it Nickrow, or slow is telling fantasy stories again along with the other haters of what Harbaugh is thinking. A very special and unique gift these guys have. Welcher said that Kap is starting against the Giants or Seahawks.
Ok guys lets see these magical powers at work, how many fingers/which finger am I holding up?
DS / Primate
Don’t compare apples to oranges (or bananas to keep Primate happy). QB and LB comparisons don’t make sense.
Back to the topic at hand, a top notch QB is never taken out of the game. When was the last time Brady, Breese, Rodgers, etc were situationally taken out of a game to run a gimmick play? It just doesn’t happen.
JH put CK in the game to spark the offense. He didn’t think AS could do that, otherwise, why even try it?
Yeah ok Nicky. You obviously just started watching football. Your back to being the dumbest guy on the blog, congratulations!
Nick
When does a HC risk injury to their elite player if a backup can do the same job?
Sorry man. In no way CK is being added to run those plays for spark. Tell me why JH didn’t have CK do those plays till now? He could have ran right/left last year just as well. He could have thrown deep as well. Explain why he didn’t before.
I call it gameplanning. Not an attack on AS. Of course I’m strange because I’m happy after the win. Makes me a loner on this site which requires you to be mad after a 34-0 shutout win on the road.
DS I’m happy as a pig in sh$t right now cause of the win. How many times have you seen a defense like this dominant on the road. I think people are under appreciating this superb defense and insted are looking to create a QB controversy that does not exsist.
I’ve never seen a fan base so upset with a win.
Prime,. If our defense was not all world, let’s say they were average. Do you think Harbaugh would have more of a need in replacing Smith, than they do now because our defense is great.?
Prime
This fan base is crazy. Seriously man. Everybody knows the defense is the strong suit of this team, but nobody discusses it. Try to bring it up, and nobody cares. Mention AS’s name, and it’s a 5 alarm fire.
I am proud of my team. 34-0 on the road. How many teams did that? Our defense played a great game, and nobody cares at all. It is all about a handful of plays that CK came in for which gets all the attention in addition to a few missed deep passes. Since Brady was 1/15 last year on such passes, I’m not that upset if AS misses a few. We won the game! I get upset when we lose. Though many here are the exact opposite.
Pathetic man.
Did you see the Monday Night Game. There are two QB’s right there who AS is a whole lot better than. 2 moronic plays in a row. One by each of them. Cutler has that ball way too far from his body, and Romo….he’s just stupid. That is how a QB loses games right there. Everybody needs to realize it isn’t always what the QB does. A lot of times it is what he doesn’t do. And both of those plays were pathetic and completely avoidable. The Romo int/fumble thing decided the game.
@DS I’d still take Cutler or Romo over the Precious.
Well, maybe not Romo. That was horrendous.
And Cutler’s constant pout annoys the hell out of me.
Okay, fine, I’ll stick with the Adequate One over those two dumpster fires.
DS that’s where we are mistaken, it’s not a fanbase. It’s just some select egomaniacs and fantasy football fans that think like that.
I watched the MNF game. Gunslingers don’t do it for me. Your putting a lot of pressure on your defense when you turn it over. Elite defense or not, when your constantly on the field, fatigue sets in, mistakes happen, and you get exposed.
People don’t understand that JH is shaping this franchise to play the ultimate team game. All three phases interrelated. Run the ball, play good defense, don’t turn it over, win the field postion battle. Show me where airing it out works in that equation?
Cossell, welcher they all know more than Harbaugh and the front office. They were part of all the personnel, draft, free agent, coaches and game planning meetings. Nickrow actually can read JH’s mind and knows what he really is thinking when using Kap. It’s all garbage. Winning will silence all this.
msc
That is 2 straight days where you didn’t completely disagree with a post of mine. Everything ok?
:- )
Prime
We are all welcome to have our opinions. But the season has started. The time for us to play make believe is over. We have the team we have. As a fan, support them or get your butt off this wagon. It ain’t stopping till we are holding #6 at the end of the year.
JH and co. have proved they are consistent winners, but just like at Stanford they are susceptible to the letdown games like everyone else. They are bright minds who have been outthinking themselves. So, let’s hope they get back to pounding the rock, and takeing calculated shots with short passing. Our division is staked with strong defenses. Our guys need to go back to punching people in the mouth. That’s what both sides of the ball did so well last year. I don’t care if we win by three every week. I just want to see tenacity and unrelenting pressure the whole game! Go niners!
The 49ers defense held the Jets to 145 total yards. It seems the week in Youngstown worked for them.
Question, what teams are in the top five defending the run this year?
Regardless of what the stats say, everybody knows we are the toughest team to run against.
Did you watch the Giant vs. Philly game? Chris Collinsworth saying that some Giant DL is the best in the NFL. Then right after that, the Giants give up 2 huge runs in a row. Ha ha!
Football gods heard the announcers make a stupid comment, and the Giants paid. Justin Smith is the best. You can’t be the best and allow that to happen twice in a row. And basically the whole 2nd half. I love it!
@DS here’s a dirty little secret about the announcers for NFL games – they don’t know squat. They’re fed a pre-made script about the game and they follow that script unless the game goes way off track.
I’ve interacted with Collinsworth. He’s a great guy. But he’s so busy doing commercials and TV shows that he doesn’t have time to study the game. His stats guy (Andy Freeland) does a fantastic job of gathering up background stories on the players and Cris tries to use those stories in between plays. But football knowledge? The announcers are simply too busy to have that.
interesting perspective, Clem.
Say, MendoHomeBoy, I saw a photo of some Mike Ditka Wines, a Mendo Cab. Probably a private label for his resto in ChiTown.
ganggreennation.com blog host says:
“And the worst part of it are the Jets fans. I wasn’t at the game, but when the game began half the stadium was filled by 49ers fans. By the end of the game, the entire stadium was red. That is PATHETIC. I don’t care if my team is getting blown out. I don’t care if we’re being led by Rich Kotite. It is pathetic to give your home field advantage up like that to another team. Disgusting. That’s what I’m most angry about from this game.”
Crabs,
I need 25 pushups from you bro. You said CK wouldn’t play until when?? I told you that he would play this week. He will be starting soon bro. Just stand by. JH is not about to waste this team on a QB that won’t be here next year. We have the pieces to win a super bowl this year. We are not about to allow Alex Smith’s scared ass to throw that opportunity away.And trust me, he will.
WARM KAEPERNICK UP!!!!!
Am I the only person who is uncomfortable about a bunch of Jersey Shore characters being 49ers fan?
Clem – Thanks again for the outstanding beer recommendation last year.
I was sippin Lagunitas IPA’s watching DVR tape of Niner game.
It was very difficult getting through two youth baseball games this morning/afternoon without anyone blabbing Niner score.
23 – I said Kaep wouldn’t start this season unless Alex was injured. BIG difference bro.
I’ll do 1 push-up for Kaep playing well though. :-)
There’s no doubt our offense is more exciting with Kaep’s dual threat ability. I pull for whoever Harbaugh puts out there.
Remains to be seen if Kaep can play 4 quarters of non-preseason football at a high level. He has big time talent though.
CRabs,
I don’t think we need Kap to. Alex Smith isn’t doing it either. Put that 25 on the back burner for me. I’ll be back to get them in 4-6 weeks.
23 – I wrote it down, 4-6 weeks.
Niners opened up 9 point favorites vs Buffalo.
I’ll be in Vegas for a wedding next weekend but I’m laying off that game.
Towards the end of the game I was noting the stadium; a lot of empty seats, and a red tide in that one end zone.
DS94everXev says:
September 30, 2012 at 8:24 pm
AES
“Hof is saying “If you take away CK runs…” That is hypothetical stuff. If AS threw that same ball, people would complain about it. If you don’t think they would, please see a neurologist. That was a horrible pass. Much worse than anything AS has thrown in 2 years. 3 covered. Didn’t look any place else. Didn’t give his WR much a shot at it. Making up hs mind before the play developed. Tell me you’ve heard JM say that is good QB play. Do you think JH told him to throw it no matter what? I very much doubt that. Will JH blame CK? Nope. In the meeting room though that pass will get more than 3 seconds discussion.”
@DS
I respect Hofe as one of the most fair bloggers on here. Hofe can certainly stand on his own when having to defend any case he makes.
My comment was directed at you, not at Hofe bud. You say that CK made a horrible throw to RM and I disagree because although RM was covered by three defenders he still was able to get his hands on the ball. If you are using this one play to blemish CK’ accomplishments on the field today, you are showing poor team spirit. As I said earlier, I’m almost sure that Harbaugh called that play to RM and CK was only following orders.
And because the incomplete pass did not result in an INT or have a bearing on the outcome of the game, why do you insist on maring CK’ performance?
You are not building a good case for fanship DS.
AES
hof has to make reasonable arguments. He doesn’t get a pass because you say so.
You said to get used to seeing more CK. And you point out bad passes by AS no problem at all. But you don’t call that CK pass poor. Call it even AES.
And way to pull the “fan” line. My mistake. I was hoping you wouldn’t devolve the conversation so quickly to throw that out at me. Guess we shouldn’t have conversed yet. Too soon. Again, my mistake for hoping. Sorry all.
See ya a lot later AES.
Hofe gets a pass in book. You on the other hand? (lol)
Good night bud.
BTW DS, when did I make a comment regarding AS’ passes in this game?
C’mon DS, you’re reaching at straws again.
Why are you conveniently missing my comments on this thread that AS is our starter, yet making a fuss over me giving CK kudos for a good performance?
You are sounding like a spoiled child who can’t be happy that someone other then AS had a good game.
Let it go DS, there’s always next week (lol).
In a way we fans – and to an extent the beat writers – are operating if not blind at least with restricted vision. Without the ability to look at the the whole field we really have an imperfect idea of which receivers are actually open. We don’t have a good way to judge whether there are guys wide open or not. Seems to me when I watch other games, their receivers seem more open more ours. But maybe ours are getting open and Alex just doesn’t see them. Ideally, the whole field video shot by the teams would be available to us and the beat writers, plus the ability to compare it to other team’s whole field video. Because TV sure doesn’t show all that.
Ray Ratto brings up a good point – the 49ers may be responsible for the resurrection of the Tebow cult.
I’m not sure my conscience is comfortable with that.
The Jets should go full-Tebow. They have nothing to lose, and Sanchez is worse.
They’d probably be better off starting their 3rd string guy and move away from the “circus”! It doesn’t work and it hasn’t worked. Now the 9ers are resorting to such tomfoolery. Makes you excited eh?
It doesn’t really matter what the Jets do the rest of this season. They’re toast.
Whoever put that team together messed up. They need to start over. New QB. New coaches. New running backs. New linebackers.
If I see a picture of Ryan Tebowing my year will be complete.
Also – it’s totally unfair that you get to edit your posts and we don’t.
You’re right. I wonder if the blog master can change that.
msc
+1 to the editing feature. I thoght we were going to get that Grant.
I’ll investigate. It may not be possible. I have no idea.
While he’s at it, find a way for us to delete our own posts as well. Great timing by me there.
Since your taking requests perhaps you can grant anyone who pays you $1,000 the ability to delete posts of other users. That would be cool.
Hofer,
At least the 49ers tomfoolery works! Sparano has no clue what he is doing with that offense, and now the only playmaker he had is hurt.
How bad must the Bills and Dolphins be? Yikes!!
Grant-
I’ve had the impression for a little while now that the Jets Mgt Group were willing to play the “Kardashian Card” by trading for Tebow to try to generate buzz in NYC (Capitol of The World); #2 syndrome in NYC since G-Men actually win SBs. Rex is a bit of P.T.Barnum, even though he has real cred in Defensive Football.
So, imo, it all comes down from the top.
Grant: you forgot to mention the lines. The Jets got owned because our O-line and D-line manhandled them for long stretches of the game.
You’re right about Sanchez though. He sucks so bad he distorts the space-time continuum.
Grumpy Guy,
Hah! The Black Hole at QB!
In Sanchez’s defense, each year he’s been here, the FO has made the team progressively worse. I thought he looked great in his rookie and pretty good in his second year. But then they had a killer defense, Ladanian Thomlinson and Leon Washington in the backfield, the likes of Plaxico Burress, Jericho Cotchery and Brayon Edwards to throw it to. Now? Shon Greene and (exit) Santonio Holmes? That’s a huge huge drop off in offensive firepower. On top of that, bring in Tebow just to f with his head? The Jets team is grossly mismanaged and Sanchez is the fall guy. Too bad he signed that long term extension, he needs to get away from this team as soon as he can.
Nothing can escape. Especially Ryan and Sparano.
Seems to me the real question after this game is, Will Rex Ryan survive the year as the Jets head coach. That was an awful display today by their team. I know they’re 2-2 but management can’t allow many more home games like that.
I doubt he makes it. Sparano should be fired immediately. He doesn’t know what he’s doing.
The Jets offense was better under Schottenheimer. I’m even sure why Sparano is still coaching in the NFL after the debacle in Miami.
Grant,
While the pass to Moss probably shouldn’t have been thrown, it wasn’t almost intercepted. Moss positioned himself beautifully and dropped it. I saw the replays on the JETS jumbo screens. Even Jets fans said he dropped it. Gorgeous screens by the way.
At least CK attacked. More experience will help him make better decisions. Attacking is better than continuously missing open scoring plays and hanging on to the ball too long and taking sacks. We need Change.
As much as I think Alex is not the long term answer, I don’t think CK is ready. The only time they should make a change is if Alex’s poor play begins resulting in losses. Right now, the 9ers have a winning formula so changing that for the sake of change is a bad idea in my opinion.
Agreed except the current offense won’t get us to the Super Bowl. That’s why Harbaugh is beginning to Tinker with things now.
You see CK come in and little by little be allowed to do more and more.
They are developing him and getting him game experience, all positives!
Unveiling CK for this game was rubbing it in Rex’s and Sparano’s nose. Here’s a Tebow package, chumps! I thought it was a brilliant move. Also put the rest of our opponents on notice – you better prepare for this.
Bay, what is interesting is the fact moss was covered by three dbs and the ball still hit Moss’s hand when he jumped to catch it! So Moss actually had a chance to catch that ball and maybe in his old days we would have had a TD! What i like the most about that call, now defenses can not just look for the run when CK is in the game!!!
GO NINERS
I absolutely guarantee that Harbaugh will be telling Kaep not to throw into triple coverage next time.
If Revis is there, he intercepts that no matter which RM shows up.
Bay: if we were losing, or even a .500 team, I would agree that we need change, but, to use a blackjack metaphor, why change dealers if you are getting 20′s and 21′s almost every hand?
Dangle,
Just remember, we are trying to win a super bowl, not get to the NFC championship game again. Our offense is not a super bowl caliber offense. We have a long ways to go and I don’t think Smith can play much better than average. Thats all we’ve seen from him. Average and inconsistency. I keep saying it. Smith is never going to be consistent enough for this team to win a super bowl with him.
Right, because the 49ers were so far away from the Super Bowl last year that the team clearly needs to make a change.
Keep making your “The 49ers can’t win ____ with Alex Smith at QB” predictions.” Perhaps you’ll actually be right one of these days.
But i doubt it.
Perhaps but it seems to me CK is not running the base offense. He’s more of a Wildcat type change of pace. Let’s see how he does running the base attack and then maybe he will change my mind. I haven’t seen anything yet to suggest CK should be starting over Smith. I would like to see CK get more snaps but I’m not ready to say make a change.
Houston, I agree with you. If CK were to gain experience in the base offense, that would say the change is imminent.
AS is all class. When asked about being replaced he stated, “I don’t care. We scored.” and gave CK accolades for his hard work.
Three weeks ago I flew over Met-Life stadium before landing at Newark airport. It smelled like Snooki.
I feel bad for the 49ers players.
Remember Shea? Couldn’t hear s nor shinola due to jet aircraft noise.
As a ex Long Islander, I used to go to Met games on the train. I would collect certain amount of Borden Milk cartons and get to see the Mets for free. Shea is located in Flushing, and we used to call Shea stadium the Flushing bowl.
I never made it to Shea Brotha. Sucks to be me.
I don’t know if Kaepernick is religious, but tebowing after his touchdown would have been excellent.
Could someone just put a bullet in my head already to end this Smith Sucks” endless commentary. It’s got to the point I’m starting to beg for JH to just start CK and have him play a full game to end this torterous and pointless debate about AS. Is Smith great? No. But is Smith good? Yes. We are 3 and 1, beat a decent Jets team and the message board is all about how pathetic Smith was. For the love of God…STOP!! He threw the football a measly 20 times and completed twelve with a couple drops. Who cares how he played we won 34 to ZERO. We didn’t need to pass because we ran at will. The reason Alex doesnt throw deep balls is because Roman isn’t asking or needing him to.. Let’s give this season just a few more games and I think the Offense and Alex will look more like the first two games. If not, then yes….by all means let the mob hang Alex by the gonads and play the “Almighty Wonder Boy” CK . Lord knows with all the time, work and effort he’s put in- it’s long overdue.
lol
So this isn’t an endless plea for more games in, at what point should a second year offense start clicking? Game 22 seems like the spot where the Offense should be able to spread the field.
If by week 6 Alex hasn’t taken control of the offense, can we agree that the excuses are over?
By week 6 is the season over?
Keep in mind the goal of the team. Has nothing to do with week 6. By week6 will you among others finally figure out that excuses then are applied to every QB on every team except one because only one wins at the end?
@oneniner
It wasn’t remotely fair man. If he was going to ban you for what you did, he needed to ban BigP for what he did. And I don’t get how Grant only deleted your posts attacking md while not deleting md’s shots at you. Again, not remotely fair.
At the very least, your thing was at least about football, Niners and some stupid BS of md’s that I’ve been reading about for years. It was still good work of yours.
Chris say ” at what point should a second year offense start clicking?
As long as its not costing us games Chris and it keeps winning games, the rest takes care of itself. You, me and the tree outside have no clue what the game plan was or what they are working on. Just appreciate this defense and what its doing and being 3-1 is pretty darn good when you look at who we have played.
Oneniner/American me,
Take a hint vato! “Grant has been deleting my posts since I exposed ninermd……” That’s funny, when you dissapeared, so did Latino Heat! Talk about being exposed! The only thing more pathetic then having ten different screen names is the fact that you carried on conversations between them.
BS,
It’s fitting that you name yourself after a character that “While still an infant, she was sold by her parents to the Wife Bank, where she was raised in a box with no human contact.” Sounds about right and explains a lot!
Aaawwwwww. Ds you’re so full of it. I’ve never double posted, and I’ve never talked about another mans family. You two are delusional. Oneniner comes out with some fake name where I was banned from the webzine when I never had an account. I said in the past that oneniner has been banned because he couldn’t handle the facts I was laying out about smith and he would stoop to being a punk. Telecat and I were personally responsible for oneninerd melt downs. And the great MM booted him then. I won’t go through the long list of crap oneniner has posted, but obviously when you attack the host and his family and other bloggers with childish jibberish because the facts hurt. You get booted. Who or what kind of loser comes back where their not wanted? Fact is he does. Game over again. And no matter how much you two cry about it. It is flat out pathetic. And if smith continues to play like he is, I won’t have to read your comments again. Wheeeew.
Big p. this is oneniners trademark. Established is 2005 and still a bad product. His lonely delusional world hasn’t changed. What’s the similarity with ds and oneniner? Alex smith and Alex smith only. But ds is smarter. Ds spins and points fingers at others when smith is bad and fans speak on it. Oneniner calls names and users other screen names to back his own stupid insults. How pathetic do you have to be to make up other characters that agree with your other characters? Well about as pathetic as good Ol ds. Riiiiight oneniner. I’M the one who got exposed. Lol I’ve been smacking this dude and his 19 other personalities for years now. Steeeeerike 3!
MD,
It was pretty sad, but luckily in the past. The sad part is that DS still tries to pretend that Oneniner and American Me are two different people! BS’s brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on her. As far as Oneniner goes, the excessive use of “vato” was a sure sign of a double poster.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAyHgFzS9pk
Big p. lol but no American me scene with pie face? Lol
Nice try R84, but this conversation seems to have a life of its own. Its perpetual on here. If we’d won the SB 34-0 there’s some who’d still be ragging on something. Meaningful content is getting more scarce.
Ha! is it too late to put Nate “the great” Davis and Shaun Hill in? I WANT CODY PICKETT!!!
Rubberman,
The Jets are a decent team? What game were you watching? That’s what makes you telling me Alex is good a little scary. Alex is AVERAGE.
Make a list of all the NFL QBs who could do as good of a job with the Niners as Smith is currently doing.
The list of players who would be worse is shorter so I’ll go that route. The players who would be worse than Smith in the 9er offense are:
Russell Wilson
Blaine Gabbert
Jay Cutler
Mark Sanchez?
I think you could make an argument for every other QB being equal to or better in this offense after a year being coached by Harbaugh.
1.Rogers- Grant, 1- 15 are without question.
2.Brady-
3.Brees
4.Rivers
5.Stafford
6.Ryan-
7.Newton-
8.Vick
9.Romo
10.Flacco
11.Palmer
12.P. Manning
13.E. Manning
14.Rothlisberger
15.Shaub-
16.Dalton- The rhino is nice.
17.RGIII- wow, would be nice!
18.Ponder- Guess he showed us!
19.Luck- I wish!
20.Bradford- Same guy, stronger arm, better vision.
21.Cam Newton- Really???
22.Fitzpatrick- In this offense, definitely.
23.Freeman- Yes, in this offense , yes.
24.Weeden- Threw darts against Ravens. Remember, hes 28 like Alex.
25.Tannehill- Throws a great deep ball. Good vision of field.
26. Kevin Kolb- Look at Kolb Now Smithers!
27. Matt Hasselack- Savvy vet, no question.
28. Jake Locker- No question, stronger arm.
29. Shaun Hill- Same guy.
30. Seattles backup- Name escapes me.\
31. Matt Moore- Same guy as Smith. Ask Miami’s owner! lol
32. Kaepernick
Cut line
1. Gabbert- Very close, next year.
2. Wilson- Too young and raw. Next Year.
3. Cassel- Cassel maybe, just inconsistent.
4. Jay Cutler- Never know when he’s gonna throw a pick.
5. Mark Sanchez- He’s horrible.
Grant,
This list also shows you why ALex Smith was untouched in free agency last year. You actually helped me prove my point. Alex Smith is a system fit and a game manager. However, he no longer is a system fit in this offense ecause he is too inaccurate with the deep ball.
He was untouched in free agancy because even the QB’s he might e better than, are with teams that have invested in them. They cant afford to lose the money for a slightly better upgrade.
I’m not sure I agree with your bottom four or Josh Freeman (he stinks). I think I’d draw the line at 26 or 27, but you could definitely make an argument for 32.
Thanks for taking the time to make the list.
Grant,
Take a look at Josh’s game yesterday. His deep alls were money. With ours, we are broke.
I haven’t seen it. I’ll check it out.
Grant,
As for me making a case for Kap like you mentioned. I don’t have to. He did that for himself yesterday. You were there. You saw the difference when he came into the game. He charged up the offense.
You’re a lot smarter than the idiots on this blog. You get information you can’t share with us. Some of these guys can’t read between the lines. I can and you’re secret is safe with me! Lol. So what week do you think Kap is replacing Alex? Don’t answer that!! Lol
I’ll say…………… I’m not telling either but we both know!
CK may be the answer but he did not do anything yesterday that would indicate he is ready to be the starter. He had some good runs and 1 pass that was into triple coverage. It’s alot different being a relief pitcher facing 3 batters and the starter who has to face all 9 several times. CK isn’t ready. He needs to clearly show he’s better than AS in the base offense.
But that is an excuse. Why isn’t he 80%? If he can throw accurate deep balls, he would be higher. And every QB but AS can do it. I mean did you see the deep ball by CK?
Accuracy matters. Those obsessed with deep balls are watching too much ESPN. His numbers weren’t so high in large part due to the fact we were shutting the opponent out in their home stadium, and our run game was in the middle of getting more rushing yards than any Rex Ryan Defense had ever given up in his coaching career.
But let’s blame AS for that. Running so much was an excuse for not passing it as often. Because we don’t have faith in AS. Makes sense.
I think there is some faith in AS, I just think he is not hitting those home run throws like starting NFL QBs should do. I like that he puts more on it to try o get the WR to run under them. But some of those needed more of an arch. I can’t see the lack of all these missed throws being lack of chemistry. At some point. The QB and WRs need to hit on these simple fade patterns, double move or not.
Also I really wish i could go back and see the coaches tape and detail Moss and Crabtee routes and separation. I know this is the NFL but if we have WRs that are not getting open “enough” and we have a QB not accurate enough or willing/allowed to throw it then we have a bigger issue. Maybe have Jenkins run around out there. Heck we are only hitting the WRs 3 times each anyway.
DS,
As a true 49er fan (as you say), why can’t you be happy for CK7?
Whether gimmick or not, the kid just had the game of his life and you continue to bash his long incomplete pass to RM.
Look at the replay and you’ll see that even though surrounded by three defenders, Moss was still able to get two hands on the ball.
Hmmmm, perhaps Harbaugh knows that RM has made a career of making these catches over the years.
But while the incomplete pass did nothing to change the games outcome, you continue to roll it out as an indictment against CK and totally overlooking the positive impact he made.
C’mon DS, as a true 49er are you at least a little happy for CK7′ performance?
Well, I know you will begrudgingly give kudos, or do your typical spinning to deflect the question (lol).
I’m glad that Harbaugh/Roman know what they have in CK, and that they are prepared to utilize his talents for the good of the TEAM.
All good!
C’mon aes…. Didn’t you see ds’s first post of the day yesterday? Hint if if you didn’t. It had to do with MC and the td catch he didn’t make, because there was a defender draped all over him.
It’s comments like these that are the reason ds has been lobbying to grant about being able to delete your own posts. Ds is a whirlwind of hypocrisy. And how do you defeat hypocrisy? Bury the past.
Ds couldn’t stand that CK went in and did his thing. After all he didn’t throw any int’s and had a td. And could have been two. In just 4 minutes of play. Naaaa why would ds like that?
Hahaha! Sounds like another one of oneniner’s characters is taking a deep shot at MD (lol)!
Result: Incomplete!!!
I don’t know this to be fact but my impression on the CK pass to Moss was that CK was told to pass it to Moss no matter what. If he was in to run the read option then he needed to loosen up the defense which he accomplished by throwing deep to Moss.
Agreed. He put it on film most likely at the coaches’ behest.
*reply to Houston49er*
I’m very happy for Kap. As an Alex convert over the last couple years, I’m happy to see what he’s done the last couple years as well, he’s done a great job of proving his biggest critics wrong and turning into a solid QB. But at the same time, we need to take it to the next level SOMEHOW. We only have a small window though, and I think it’s stupid to start clamoring for Kap, in fact I think it’s downright childish. Posters who do that make the fanbase look moronic.
Until Harbaugh gives Kap the nod, I’m not going to place any hope there, I’d rather place it in who we have the on the field. That’s what most niner fans should be doing, the smart ones at least. All Kap has done is run the ball a few times, threw a bomb that was inaccurate and late, and get consistently outperformed by Alex throughout TC. Harbaugh has proven he knows way more than any of us regarding the position, I’ll trust his judgement.
I will cheer for CK when he is in the game. I will cheer for AS when he is in the game. I will cheer them both if they are both in the game.
Not that complicated people.
In JH I trust.
DS,
Good to hear your change of tone regarding CK7 (lol).
Your rants regarding CK’ hypothetical INT on the pass to RM were a real stretch. And not giving him any props for having the best game of his career was a bad display of sportsmanship.
Glad to see that you have a better TEAM attitude today.
I could have sworn that the 65yd Air Delivery hit Moss right in the hands…
+1
Nolan,
You sound bitter. Just keep watching. Guess you’ll be calling Harbaugh immature pretty soon. Kap will be playing more and more in the weeks to come. Then you will know that CHANGE has come.
Stick to trying to convince everyone but yourself hey welcher. Just don’t get it, no one cares what your trying to feed them. You outward and put whip cream on it but it’s still whip cream on sh$t!
Did you even go to school? This is incoherent.
Oh, you noticed that, too? Can’t fix dumb…
both of the extremes, on both sides, are prototypical of what has made the niner fanbase such a joke in the last few years. It truly is an embarrassing fanbase to be a part of. I love this team, but these fans are an obnoxious, unintelligent joke. I came here for a couple days to take part in the absurdity and see for myself. You people are nuts….on to more intelligent forums with more knowledgeable fans. The welch guy especially…grow up, you sound like such a kid.
The appropriately named Nolan Suit is simply empty cloth covering a blind idiot.
Take a look at Jets, Giants, Broncos or Raiders blogs. This blog is fairly tame.
People will disagree with you. Deal with it or stay off of the internet.
Bye Nolan
Lol good luck there also. With a qb that is inconsistent there will continue to be debates. And with a name like yours it doesn’t help with the iq of niner fans. Did you love that guy too? See ya!
Nolan,
You don’t want to see Alex Smith benched. Just say that. Don’t blame the forum. Just say you like the guy and you don’t like the fact that I don’t like his game because it’s rather weak and can’t take us to a super bowl championship. Good luck on the new sites you visit.
Smith sucks – if by sucking you mean, not throwing INTs, completing 67%, and posting another record this year around 13-3, 12-4.
The man has his limitations. So does every other QB except Brady, Rodgers and Brees. And our W-L record is still better than theirs. Alex is good enough to win games. Beyond that, in the playoffs, we’ll have to see.
Kaepernick has the raw talent to be elite, truly elite, but he is at least one – and maybe two – years away from understanding the game and the QB position well enough to be an every game starter.
Be patient. Whether it’s with Alex, or Colin, this is a good team, and is still getting better.
Let’s not forget that while AS did not pass well yesterday, he ran the offense. His audibles after reading the defense helped lead the team to the utter running domination of the Jets. For all those who are arguing that he needs to be replaced by CK: ask yourselves, does CK have enough experience reading defenses to lead this team to the promised land? Maybe, but we don’t know yet. Playing QB in this run first offense requires more than just slinging the ball around.
Well said Red. The thing we all need to understand about this offense is that it is a run first offense. This is the backbone of the offense and the playcalling is all geared towards setting up the run. It’s old school and compares nothing to the 80-90′s offense of past 49er teams.
Alex missed some down field throws yesterday and he probably will miss a lot more. They were opportunities he missed but it did not cost us the game. When it does I will be the first one to say it.
Right now the offense and passing game can only get better and I believe Roman will exploit it when needed. But for right now, its working cause we are winning. Lets just give it more time and see what happens.
CalRed,
There’s only a handful of bloggers who are promoting a change at QB. It’s a small sample size to really make any difference.
Alex Smith is not going anywhere! He is the undisputed Starter of this offense. Harbaugh has downloaded a ton of information into AS’ brain that would likely take CK another year to process.
This is no way is a rub against CK’ intellect, I look at it as more of a learning curve for CK because of NFL inexperience and coming from a college offensive scheme that gave him total autonomy to run.
If the 49ers miss the playoffs this season because Harbaugh finds that AS has hit his ceiling, then some changing may be in order.
But until then, CK will only be inserted into certain offensive alignments, just like RM and the Jumbo Backfield is being inserted on special packages. It’s just another wrinkle to the offense, not the beginning of the end for Alex Smith.
If AS has a couple of hic’up games we still have an elite defense to carry us over the threshold. TGJr is working his way back into playing shape and D.Akers and A.Lee are still among the best.
All good.
AES, what do you think of the job Greg Roman is doing with this offense and do you see the offense struggling because of Alex or the playcalling?
It’s chicken and egg, FDM. We hesitate to lean too heavily on the passing game because Alex has not always been able to be consistently sharp. And so Alex is not sharp because we don’t really throw the ball thirty yards very often.
The only way to get better at something, assuming he can, is to do it. Keep working at it until you see the results, like the Ravens did with Flacco.
oneniner says:
October 1, 2012 at 7:24 am
@DS…I see you are holding on against the haters perfectly. Grant has been deleting my posts since I exposed ninermd……
Lol ha ha haaaaa. Haaaaaaaaa
I’m happy with the W but my concern is … What is going to happen when we play a good defense?.the Jets are not good right now and actually they suck…. And still we didn’t play the way we should….. Please don’t get me wrong but to see the passes Ben dropped,the running game not been effective,AS been sacked, missed field goals, no deep passes and to top it all off not using the talent that we have it really concerned me….I’m happy we won but not the way we won …… Sorry….. I looked at other teams offenses and I wonder why can’t we play like they do when we have the talent that we have????
Well said Willie… I still notice two things with smith that concern me.
1 he had great protection yesterday and was dancing and looking rattled.
2 watching other qb’s that throw the slant or fades down the sidelines are much more accurate. Recievers don’t break stride. The balls smith throws at times stop the momentum juuust enough for the defender to make the tackle on the spot. Good example was the Delanie Walker pass the hit him in the helmet and was thrown before his head was turned. DW has played with smith for awhile now and chemistry is not an excuse. The flat throw to Crabtree was again high. He had to jump to catch the ball. These throws can mean more yards if they are caught in stride. Smith has had the problem his whole career, and it still is an issue. He has got to settle down in the pocket.
Willie
Akers had his worst game as a Niner. No doubt.
There were some drops that really cost us early on. No doubt.
There were some non-calls (Golly, I love having the regular refs back. Was there a difference?) that hurt us early on. No doubt.
AS missed a deep pass that would have broke the game open. No doubt.
So, there were a lot of things that didn’t go well. And we won 34-0. What is the likelihood all those bad things happen in the same game again?
A win on the road is a hard thing to do. Ask Seattle. They were getting all this praise, and then they blow it to the 2nd worst team from last year. Getting a win on the east coast from an early game is hard. Getting a shutout on the road, how hard is that?
I think had the Jets played better, we would have seen more “fun” offense from the Niners. AS would have actually not come out of the game and would have thrown it more than 2-3 times the whole 4th quarter. But why do it if it isn’t needed?
Willie, every game and game plan takes on its own identity. The 49ers game planned to run the ball and run the ball some more. You cant look at other teams and say why are we not like them in this area? We have our own identiy and somethings are clicking and others are not.
We are not even halfway thru the season so why expect perfect execution after only 4 games? Winning ugly sometimes happens, its better than losing ugly and the same as winning with flare. None of it will matter come Jan. The point is win anyway you can so you have a chance in Jan. Style matters only in fashion, not football.
FDM
“Style matters only in fashion, not football.”
You forgot to add “football blogs”
:- )
So Grant….. You were there did you focus on anything in particular this time? Did you happen to notice the play calling on passing routes? I’m just wondering because I can’t see the routes being ran were there some deep plays left on the field besides the miscues from AS and MM? Smith had great blocking for him yesterday and I could help but notice he was not comfortable in the pocket. Any take on this smith vs GR thing Grant?
Coaching grade way too low. Trick calls? I call it spreading it around, using every strength on the team. You just know they wanted to stick it to Ryan and the league – “Posers! *This* is how you use a Tebow-like talent.” The Jets fans we were sitting around were dumbfounded. Had a great time telling them who Kaepernick was, where he came from, drafted, etc.
Great ‘take’ Rib!
Alex Smith’s history under Harbaugh suggests that he will be there when we need him.
Not so sure about Greg Roman, however.
we as a fan base are becoming spoiled again and thats a good thing. it means we are winning on a regular basis and nit picking 34-0 wins all to hell. just keep in the back of your mind what it was like 2 yrs ago and remember to enjoy the feeling of an easy win.
Really, old coach. We destroyed a Jets team, on the road, in every single phase of the game. Exactly what we are supposed to do to inferior opponents and people here are pissing and moaning? To quote claude – smh.
Rib like I said last night, everyone wants to blame Alex for the loses and then the wins as well. We ran the ball effectively and it worked so we kept grounding and pounding it, won on the road and it was not good enough. I don’t get that. Now we are expected to win and with style, that’s a joke.
The passing offense needs work, people are saying it cannot get better and won’t win in tough games. It’s frickin week 4 and we played some very good teams.
ribico
hof is complaining man. Something must be in the air/water in the SF bay area region if there are this many people mad about 34-0 shutout on the road east coast 10AM start time. Be happy you are in NY right now. The environment in SF bay is doing its voodoo like you do thing again.
No way am I letting it get me down though. That game was awesome. Most rushing yards given up by a supposed defensive genius, that is saying something.
Did you go to the game ribico? Is it true that there were tons of 49er fans there? I was reading some Jets blogs and they were mad that there were so many red shirts they said, but of course they didn’t even go to the game.
I was at the game MD and there was a ton of Niner fans. It was awesome and even better to get the win on the road. My buddy who is a JETS fan didnt talk to me the whole way home. They are so upset with how the Jets played.
>>I was reading some Jets blogs and they were mad that there were so many red shirts
Definitely due to the fact that Jets-Niners is not a rivalry whatsoever. Many more Jets fans had nothing to lose in reselling their tickets to help offset ridiculously high season ticket prices. That’s how I ended up with mine. Compared to the Giants-49ers rivalry and Giants fans – you’d find not nearly as many 49er fans at a Giants game compared to this one.
Rib,
I felt badly for the Jets fans. Blue collar proud loyal fan base. Different than Giants fans. I wouldn’t have cared less, in fact would have loved to have crushed the Giants at their park. Something about the Jets fans made me feel a little bad for them.
Bay, don’t worry about Jets fans, it’s part of their makeup – they are used to this by now ;)
I’m glad your road record is on the uptick. Going to any other away games?
Nice fdm. Glad you had a good time. And that’s how I acted last week with my buddy that’s a Vikings fan. It’s funny. When I was watching him and hearing his woooo’s and such I was finding things that bothered me about him. Lol ahh the bitterness..he’s still my boy though. Lol
Rib and Bay… That’s a good outlook on the fans. However my outlook is a little different. As far as selling your tickets. Before last season and that 8 year stretch of bad football. I went to games anyways. Never sold my tickets. My neighbors down in sec 35 were sellouts and I had to endure years of other teams fans celebrating right next to me. It has made me bitter towards sellout bandwagon fans. When they say die hard or faithful. I should be the damn poster boy. Now when I see these neighbors it makes me sick to see them there most of the games. Especially wearing a faithful shirt. I still high five them and celebrate td’s and TO’s, but I could never consider them faithful fans. Last season against the cowboys was the last game I saw half and half and it again made me sick. Selling your tickets without an emergency takes away your fanhood. IMO. So bay I guess I can see how you felt sorry for them, because I’ve probably had the same feeling towards me in the dark days.
Glad you guys enjoyed the 49ers. That was a great game to watch. A shut out is the ultimate slap in the face. The kind of game where you can walk out of the stadium and nobody I’m their right mind can say a word about your team.
Rib,
no more away games this year. NY ripped a hole in my wallet for sure. I will however travel if SF is in the superbowl : )
NY also touched my heart. I had never heard of the Stephen Siller tunnel to tower run and the story behind it. You familiar with that story?
>>You familiar with that story?
No Bay, can’t say that I am. I’ll google it.
Who’s nit-picking coach? Except for those who don’t like seeing AS overshadowed by another player.
Look at who are the one’s having trouble with this win.
Listen to the comments: ‘bad playcalling’ ‘gimmicky’ ‘bad long pass by CK to RM’ ‘GR not doing a good job’ etc.
Disgruntled AS fans are not mentioning the fact that the Defense played a great game. Special Teams kept the jets out of sorts. CK had the game of his young career.
After an ugly loss to the Vikes it was refreshing to see the game plan take on a new approach.
I give high marks to Harbaugh and Roman for their keen forsight in using CK the way they did.
Will this work all the time? Maybe not.
But it worked yesterday and I’ll take this win with no complaints on my end (lol).
Well said in the last paragraph. But if you didn’t read anyone complaining about how badly alex played yesterday, the term for that is “perceptual blindness.” google it
Over 4 games the one thing that stands out to me is that our defense does not look as devastating as it did last year. JS has tailed off a bit, I expected more from Brooks. Aldon looks good, really good. Maybe I’m being too critical.
Also, as the season progresses, Harbaugh will have to make a choice at QB. If he is going to continue to mix in CK, it will hurt Alex in more ways than one. Mentally it will hurt him because he will know that if he were running the offense efficiently enough, we wouldn’t be mixing CK to give different looks. What will hurt AS more though is the fact that yanking him three or four or five times a game will not allow him to get into a rhythm. Thoughts?
When does he get into a rhythm, anyway? You can’t take away that which does not exist. Might as well let execution trump play knowledge.
Consistency is not Smith’s friend for sure. However he does have occasional decent games. What I am saying is that bringing Kaep in will begin to effect his occasional decent game is all. In more ways than one. If Smith begins looking over his shoulder, he will not be comfortable and it will effect his play. One or two bad series and he will go in the tank mentally…..
Your point, that there are very few examples of teams running a ‘QB by committee’ having success, is very valid. I think that is because in almost every case where it would be implemented, the team is losing and the offense isn’t productive. I think we just have to have faith that Harbaugh knows what he is doing and that Alex is the ‘humble plodder’ (or something close) that most of us think he is.
I thought our defense played like they did last season. And maybe better that game. Going on the road (especially the east) and pitching a shut out is very very difficult to do. No matter who you play. Maybe the jets offense looked that bad because our defense was that good. I’m not saying their offense are world beaters, but they have been good enough to put some points on the board.
The passing game is still a concern of mine. I liked the ck calls yesterday, I just hope its going to be a sample of what’s to come every game. Because that is showing desperation. However the good thing is it gives a nice wrinkle to the offense. And if used on rare situations it could have some effect. Wildcat offenses have one thing in common. Bad qb’s. you were there. Did you focus on the route running? Did it look like GR was trying to stretch the field with his calls?
I thought it was a great game played by our team. With one problem. The passing game. It was definitely the weak link yesterday.
I saw RM, MM and MC all run deep routes yesterday multiple times.
I am still BAFFLED at JH not taking a shot to RM in the corner of the end zone with 20+ seconds left. Settling for the field goal. SMH….
If I were a leader on the offense I would tell him that going for the field goal send a clear message that you as a coach do not have faith in the offense.
He’s not the same aggressive coach that let Andrew Luck chuck it all over the field for sure.
Yeah that was weird, because if memory serves, they at least one down left over and some timeouts. Maybe it was because alex missed/overthrew deep passes earlier and harbaugh didn’t want to risk anything? that sounds kind of lame. But oh well, a win is a win and we may not get excited by this offense, and we may not like this offense, and we may think that the passing game is the weakest component of our team, but we went 14-4 last year, and we are 3-1 this year with this offense. The best predictor of the future is usually the past and if this keeps going, we are going to have to stop complaining about the offense eventually. Lets keep even heads and see how the team does from here. They know that the passing game wasn’t good so i wouldn’t expect complacency. Afterall, we have the bills, Giants, Cards, and Seahawks coming up in the next four weeks. Those won’t be easy games and if we don’t come into the bye week 3-1 thru those games, there will probably be cause for complaint. But until there is Actual cause for complaint, I’m enjoying our success and the embarrassment of rex ryan.
I think the D looks good. Handled GB and Det, played one bad game against Minny, then back to business. Bills o-line is better then the jets, so it’ll be interesting to see how that goes. Bills D is NewOrleansesque bad, so we might see Kaep in for mop up duty in a regular offensive set….
The wildcat plays become easy to defend when teams have seen other teams using it. It worked yesterday cause the Jets had no idea it was coming. But you knew they were ready for Moss to go deep cause every team since GB just puts a safety over top and the DB in bracket coverage whenever he is on the field. I hate to say it but Moss really is a one trick pony. I want the Niners to use Mario Manningham and Crabtree a lot more.
As for Alex Bay, this is who and what the Niners want to be, a methodical, run the ball, play good defense, little to no risk team. Harbaugh in my opinion will not open it up. Whether thats because of Alex or his philosophy, I dont know. He has done this everywhere he has coached.
The playcalling at the end of half blew me away, did you hear me yelling at the SF sideline? That was pathetic. You gotta try for the endzone there and if Alex cannot get it there, bring in KAP, at least you tried. But once again, Harbaugh is content to kick a FG or punt or let the clock expire. I dont understand that.
As for the defense, MacDonald is the unsung hero. He was awesome yesterday and Aldon was the benefactor of it. He took up two guys while A.Smith swept and in and got the sacks. Justin is getting double teamed and Brooks also is getting to the QB. I love our defense and Goldson especially. Ballhawk or what and fierce competitior. Niners better sign him!
Overall a boring game, but got the win. The offense needs a lot more work but having a 3-1 record against the teams we played is a good start to the season. Bring on the Bills!
The rhythm issues also concerns me. I’m not worried, however, about Smith’s ego or mental state. With all the crap he’s been through, he should be able to handle it.
But then again, I’m not a trained psychologist.
*rhythm issue
Bay,
That’s why Sing traded Shaun Hill. So Smith wouldnt have to look over his shoulder. Hell, arent we trying to win a super bowl? Kap was the reason we were able to break that game wide open. Yes, the defense played lights out, but if we dont get that 1st TD, its 6-0 at half and the Jets feel like they’re still in it.
Im not worried about Smith’s feelings or his rhythm. He may have decent games aginst some teams but look at his career record against winning teams. He plays scared agaginst those teams. He plays like they are blitzing every down. The game somehow gets too fast for him.
I don’t know aout everyone else on this damn blog, but I want this team to win a super bowl this year. I don’t care if Joe Staley plays QB, just get it done. NO EXCUSES!!!
“He plays scared agaginst those teams. ”
I get that you don’t like him, and your opinions are Well documented, but that statement is plain wrong. Look at this year. He faced GB and Det and certainly did not play ‘scared.’ He played quite well. Yeah he turned in less than stellar performances against Min and NYJ, but i doubt those are the ‘winning teams’ you are referring to.
But PS, i think it would be awesome if Staley played QB. But then we would need a LT
Good points ND.
Sorry, that should be MD (lol).
Grant, never saw you yesterday. Were you on the field? Or in the box? What were you wearing? Did you have a backpack on?
I was in the press box. Are you going to the Arizona game?
You had to pull out the binoculars to spot me from there.
I wanted to go to AZ, unfortunately I can’t. My 13U boys baseball team has a big tournament that weekend. BTW we are power ranked #1 in Northern California. ( had to brag )
You’re right about the binocs.
Congrats on your your team. Do you coach year round? I only played baseball in the spring when I was 12.
Yes,
we play year round. I tried shutting it down for the Holidays. Unfortunately I would have lost several boys that wanted to keep playing.
I’m only going to keep it going until my son gets into high school.
What position does your son play?
RF and 2nd base.
Interesting. A position that demands a strong arm and a position that doesn’t.
Good luck to you guys.
If we go into the spring with a firm hold on the number one ranking maybe the PD would run a story on us. Especially with Petaluma still fresh on our minds : )
I’m sure we would.
From section 108
http://ribico.com/pics/FromOurSeats.JPG
4th qtr – I think this was Alex running that option play. Notice all the red in the stands across the way.
Yeah, there were a few Niner fans onhand.
http://ribico.com/pics/PreGame.JPG
Tailgating pregame.
http://ribico.com/pics/PostGame.JPG
Celebrating postgame.
Nice shots.
Rib – What the hell was that Jets fan celibrating in post game pic?
How was Finnertys Pub?
Rib – Did you notice the famous dude in front center of post-game pic (Tebow #15 jersey on)? I had no idea Super Mario was a Tebow fan.
Thanks for sharing the pic’s Rib.
49er fans definitely came strong and represented!
>>What the hell was that Jets fan celibrating in post game pic?
I think he was leading a TEBOW! chant ;)
>>How was Finnertys Pub?
Jeez, didn’t make it over there, the drive back to Manhattan took a REAL long time, ended up getting BBQ near my apt. instead. Had to settle for margaritas instead of Anchor Steam for celebration :)
Fantastic pics Ribico
Awesome Pics!
I agree with Old Coach – if this blog is indicative of the fan base as a whole, it’s definitely getting spoiled. A shame, really.
AS missed a couple throws, sure, but he’s human just like every other qb in the league. I think we should cut him a bit of slack, folks. We have no idea how many protections he changed, how many audibles he made or whether his targets were seeing the defense like he was and making the proper adjustments. With that said, he definitely looked harried for some of the game – took too many sacks, too (like the back-to-back sacks to pull us out of decent field goal range). He could stand to improve, but I, for one, haven’t lost faith just yet.
On the other hand, when Kap came (comes) in, I couldn’t help get a little more excited, a little more attentive to the next play. Man, if this kid can learn to read defenses from under center, he’s gonna be dynamite! So excited at the prospect of him, Jenkins and James on the field with VD and MM. Lots of change of direction ability, lots of flat out SPEED on the field. Oh, the possibilities.
Also, that deep pass CK threw to RM – I’m thinking that shot was called just to “put it on film”. I’m willing to be there were no reads or judgements made by Kap at the line at all. Gotta make teams we face in the future prepare for Kap’s arm, not just his legs, each time he comes into the game.
Finally, yeah, the Jets are totally freakin’ inept, but they’re still pros in the NFL! Wow(!) our defense took it to them yesterday. How many total yards given up? Goose egg on the scoreboard? It’s a thing of beauty.
OK OK… one more thing – Aldon Smith is a BEAST. (but wtf was that sack celebration with the pinwheeling arms? haha)
>>Gotta make teams we face in the future prepare for Kap’s arm, not just his legs, each time he comes into the game.
Exactly, Mr. A. Our “Tebow” is not a one trick pony like that other one. Oh, and we know how to use him, so watch out.
Post on a Jets blog: “Their Tebow is better than ours!”
Totally agree about the CK to Moss shot. I called it presnap that they needed him to throw deep so teams don’t zero in on him running.
The only problem with the CK-Moss shot was that CK threw it late. Moss had the coverage beat, however by holding it a tick too long it was underthrown, allowing the DB’s to break it up.
When Carlos Rogers scooped up fumble, did any of you notice how frickin fast Ahmad Brooks is? Wow!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-o0VNaEXZw
Been reading online New York reporters and bloggers. Much commentary how the Jets chocked on mistakes, nothing about how physical and good the 49ers were. All fans do this to some degree. Last week much of the talk was about the 49ers failures, and little about how surprisingly well the Vikings executed.
But New York fans, reporters and bloggers? They represent the extreme. New York teams are never beaten by better, more physical teams with superior talent… ever. Its always “we choked and lost a game we were destined to win.” They always seem to imply “if the Jets did not throw this interception or lose that fumble, their superior talent would have easily subdued the 49ers… that it was the Jets game to lose.”
Brahahahaha
British tabloids might be the only thing on Earth that out-hyperbole the New York media.
It’s kind of bizarre reading the board today. 34-0 on the road and 95% of the posts are lamenting how bad the offense played. Damn. Enjoy the win and stop obsessing over the style points.
Every game is it’s own entity. It unfolds a certain way and Coaches make decisions based on that. This type of game is a Harbaugh wet dream. This was about dominating physically and mentally and the Niners did that. The Jets came into the game near the bottom of the league in rushing defense and the Niners focused on that from start to finish.
I’m never going to understand the constant criticism of Smith even when he was a minor factor in the game throwing the ball. I mean he threw it 13 times in the first half completing 9 for 100 yards. Then the predictable 4 minute offense mindset in the second half limits him to 8 throws and still it’s all about how Smith played? He was made a non factor in this game by the playcalling. If you want to nitpick, you can look at the deep throw to Crabtree that he sailed over his head. Bad throw no doubt about it. However the two he threw to Manningham were right on the money if Manningham isn’t held by Kyle Wilson on both plays. I swear they could have called PI on Wilson about 8 times yesterday. The bottom line is, the gameplan was to run the ball and keep running the ball yesterday and Smith and the passing game were largely ignored in the second half.
Defense was great, especially Aldon who was in the backfield all afternoon and also made a nice shoe string tackle on a pass to the RB that might have picked up some good yardage had he missed it. Willis and Bowman were amazing as usual. Bowman had such good coverage on one play that the pass hit him right in the chest…unfortunately Bowman has the hands of a LB. Goldson had a really good day and a really pretty tip away of a deep ball in the second half.
Akers was off, but that is probably the first so so day he’s had since he became a Niner so I’ll cut him some slack. Andy Lee the best punter in franchise history and the league right now is a real weapon. 3 times he dropped a punt inside the 5 that died (one got knocked into the endzone by Spillman). The guy is phenomenal.
Coaching was good overall but every week I find myself wondering what Roman is doing at times. Yesterday they ran the ball about 65% of the time which was fine against a bad run defense, but some of the 3rd down play calls were puzzling. 3 times he called deep shots on 3rd down instead of just going for a 1st. Take the deep shots on 1st or 2nd; not on 3rd down. That’s about all I can find negatively about the Coaching aspect of the game. Otherwise the Niners were extremely disciplined, played a near flawless road game and came out with a dominating victory. I loved what they did with Kap. I hoped they would put a package together for him to come in and play each week and this was a great start. The kid is an amazing athlete and having him out there puts so much pressure on the edges of a defense. I don’t care that he threw into double coverage either. He put it up and gave Moss a shot to make a play and if it’s picked, it’s deep in Jet territory. More and more they can now give Kap opportunities to not only run the ball but throw off of bootlegs and playaction.
Overall, an ugly blue collar ass kicking which is the way Harbaugh likes it I think. Every week I read posts wondering why the offense doesn’t open up, and why haven’t they gelled etc. and I’ll keep saying it: This is the offense these guys run. Period. Not always this slanted toward the run but it’s always going to be about 50/50 and the passes will be about picking up 1st downs moreso than trying to get a quick strike TD. If you don’t believe me look up the games at Stanford while Harbaugh and Roman were there. Luck was second fiddle to the running game. Toby Gerhart nearly had 2000 yards rushing his senior year. The rushing attempts always dwarfed the passing attempts. This is the offense they run. Accept it or don’t but that’s the way it is. We’ve seen examples of the offense being able to go to a fast paced pass oriented gameplan when it calls for it. They just choose to keep that in the golf bag for when they really need it instead of making it a focal point. Not nearly as entertaining to watch, but again you can’t argue with the results.
Continuing to criticize Smith every week is beyond old for me. He’s never going to be a franchise QB, but in this offense he doesn’t have to be. He’s got to play selfless football and give the team a chance to win and he does. He rarely screws up and gives a defense a short field and he’s not selfishly playing to get stats. He’s a blue collar QB for a blue collar HC who likes to run the ball and dominate the LOS. So far it’s led to a 16-4 regular season record so until it loses more than it wins I’m going to accept it and enjoy being an upper echelon team again.
@ Rocket
Warm up Gio Carmozzi!
Yeah Baby! Gio where you at?
Rocket,
I hear what you are saying. Unfortunately the QB, the play calling, the addition of vertical threats at WR coupled with the fact that this is the 2nd year for the offense in the JH system led to certain expectations.
Based on the front offices response to the way things ended last year, it led us to believe that we needed more production. Basically not good enough.
Look at Smith stats from last year with less weapons through four games. 795 passing yards 4TD’s vs 1INT. This year with elite weapons and a 2nd year under Harbaugh 784 yards passing 5TDs vs 1INT.
I think the fan frustration even after a win against a terrible Jets team is there because we don’t know who we are. No identity. If we can run on a team and win ugly like we did against the Jets great. But when we can’t run like the game against the Vikings, not so great. That is when you begin to dissect the averageness of the passing game. Not sure if averageness is a word : ) Now add the fact that they brought in CK and gimmick plays leads folks to more wondering….
In fact it’s a bit hypocritical of you considering you yourself are not happy with the OC after a 34-0 trouncing right?
Bay,
I questioned some of the play calls made on 3rd down, and the decision to play for the FG at the end of the first half, but overall I thought the offensive gameplan was fine. The Jets are terrible against the run and the Niners just kept at it and rolled to a pretty easy win.
The stats you put up on Smith should tell you exactly what I’m trying to say: this is the offense. It is run oriented and has some schematic changes week to week to give a different look, but it’s never going to be an air it out style by design. They brought in Moss and Manningham because they had to after losing Morgan and Edwards not working out. Nobody from the team ever suggested a change of philosophy and they won’t go away from what they do unless the situation calls for it.
The 49ers offense needs to evolve. Ground-and-pound probably won’t win a Super Bowl. John Harbaugh and the Ravens understand this.
Grant,
I think that Jim understands it too, but doesn’t yet have the speed on the outside or a QB that can get it downfield like the Ravens.
Whose fault is that?
Grant
We tried to evolve in Minnesota. Didn’t work. Just so happens one doesn’t control evolution. Best one can do is make conditions more favorable. And if the wild type is getting you just as good a result, evolution stands pretty still. Things won’t change much.
Grant,
If I thought all they could do was ground and pound, I’d agree with you, but I don’t see it that way. This team can throw the ball effectively when it has to. They did it the first two games of this season and many times last season. Too many conclusions are being drawn based on the last two games.
Can the 49ers throw the ball effectively against a good defense?
Grant,
I think they are developing it. Kaepernick will give him the QB to throw it downfield and Jenkins the speedy WR along with Manningham.
When those two guys become starters, Frank Gore, Justin Smith and Carlos Rogers probably will be over the hill.
And how many more years will Vernon Davis be elite?
That’s when Hunter and James take over at RB, and Dobbs at DE.
You don’t think that’s a drop off?
>>Can the 49ers throw the ball effectively against a good defense?
We’ll find out once we start playing division opponents. Those would appear to be the stiffest defenses left on our schedule.
I saw Scott Tolzien warming up before the game. While he drops passes in very accurately, he has a very weak arm IMHO. For his size I assumed his passes would have more zip.
Also before the game I saw Jenkins catching passes from CK. Man Jenkins drops a lot of passes. Just an observation…..
By 2013/2014 when they take over the drop off should be minimal if any.
You think Dobbs will develop into a defensive-player of the year candidate?
No, but I don’t see J Smith playing at that level now either.
Then the 49ers 2012 Super Bowl chances are in serious jeopardy, no?
Yes. The D is not as dominant as last year and the offense needs to step it up.
Forget yesterday, the Jets O is pathetic. The 3 games coming up after Buffalo will tell us where this team stands.
I agree. Thanks for answering all my questions.
By the way, I love your blog. I always learn from you.
Thanks for the kind words and dialogue. Working on a new piece, and hope to have it done tonight.
Can’t wait to read it.
I think the attached quote from Peter King by way of Pro Football Focus sums up fans frustration with Smith:
Revis’ sub, Kyle Wilson, gave up four completions and was targeted eight times — but Wilson was beaten on three of the four plays he didn’t allow a completion; Alex Smith overthrew his intended receiver on those three attempts.
Go back and watch the deep throws to Manningham really closely. Both were within his fingertips and Wilson is holding or armbarring him on both of them. Manningham threw his hands up wondering how the ref didn’t call a PI on either of them. They weren’t overthrown badly by any means. The deep shot to Crabs was a bad ball though. No doubt about it.
a couple things rocket:
- That’s not my quote. That’s directly from Pro Football Focus. They said Smith overthrew his receivers at least 3 times when he was targeting Kyle Wilson.
- On almost every single deep pass in the NFL, DB’s get their hands on receivers and use the arm bar to hold them back. It’s called sometimes and not others. I don’t think Alex Smith would use that as the excuse why he missed those passes.
Houston,
I just wanted you to see what I saw. You’re right, there is handfighting on almost every deep throw, but Wilson should have been penalized and it was the difference in the passes being completed and grazing off Manninghams fingertips. Either way, at least they took a few shots and hopefully keep doing so once in awhile to keep things honest.
Agree. I was very happy to see them at least trying to loosen up defenses.
@ rocket:
Thanks for providing the badly needed dose of perspective.
Although, clearly, some people never are going to learn.
Balls,
here is where your lack of football knowledge comes in. Unless there are some significant changes to our offense, our chances are making it to an NFC championship game or a superbowl are very thin.
We lost to a Vikings team that only won three games last year. Our passing attack looks as average as it did last year with much better weapons.
Instead of attacking folks that raise questions and siding with Rocket in regards to perspective, why not come to the table with some well thought out ideas of your own?
The Vikings gave every team with a good running game a blue print on the 49ers.
Doesn’t it alarm you even a little that Smith’s numbers last year were very average in regards to production and yet here we are with 25% of the season gone and his numbers are identical. With better weapons and a 2nd year under Harbaugh? Wake up, the blue print on Smith is out. Teams know what looks to give Smith go get him to check down.
Now go ahead Claude, tell me how I’m ignorant. Tell me how we are 3-1 and Smith’s QBR is top ten blah blah blah…….
Better yet, do you think we make it to the SB with this average passing attack?
Bay,
Are Smith’s weapons really all that better?
Are you serious? RM is commanding double teams. No 49ers receiver last year other than VD commanded doubles.
MM is quicker and faster than Josh Morgan. MC is better although his numbers don’t show it because he gets over thrown on wide open scores two weeks in a row. ( yes I know he has 2 drops )
So yes, his weapons are seriously better.
Mannigham is the real deal, Moss is not. Roman needs to start tailoring things to Crabs, MM, Gore and VD. Enough with getting everyone invloved. Let these guys be the focal point and run with it.
The game plans were perfect against GB, DET, and NYJ. Not so much against MIN where they got away from the run and it killed us.
If Smith is choosing less conservative plays at the LOS, then he needs to be benched. You have to take chances and if he isnt when the time of the game calls for it then yeah, warm up KAP. However, he has made the right calls in most of the games so I cant say for sure if its Smith or Roman. I think its more the philosophy of the offense that is dictating the less aggressive playcalling.
You guys are right, the offense needs to evolve a little more in the passing attack. It wont be much but a little will help us against teams when we are down. Its only week 4, no need to be concerned. But to ask Alex to be Brees/Rodgers, that is not who he is or who the 49ers offense is designed to be. Its gonna be ugly until it really starts developing into a prolific offense. Time will tell.
Manningham came here to not be a #3. If he wanted thart he stays in NY. RM is getting 2 teamed, and that was all I really expected from him. That is a big help though so for $3 million it is worth it. The starting WR’s are not set in stone. MM is getting more plays because he deserves them.
@ Bay:
I have given you my thoughts on the matter. I think the obsession with and insistence upon Fantasy Football stats is both foolish and ignorant of how Harbaugh runs his offense. I think that it is the elevation of style over substance, and I don’t have much use for the elevation of style over substance.
With an offense that you constantly ridiculed last year (“the 49ers can’t make the playoffs,” “the 49ers can’t beat teams like the Saints,” etc.), the 49ers came within a Kyle Williams muff/fumble (pick one of the two) of making the Super Bowl. Consequently, the continued pronouncements that the 49ers cannot make the Super Bowl as presently constructed are silly and are the thoughts of someone who lacks either football knowledge or long term memory.
The 49ers are 3-1 in 2012, and 3 of their 4 games have come on the road. They went into the Jets’ home yesterday and absolutely dismantled them. They even put in some plays for Kaepernick, and he looked good. You should be delighted and having fun. Instead, despite all the success thus far this season (did you notice that the 49ers opened the season by beating GB on the road?), you are bitching about the Smith’s play, just like you did last season. Moreover, you are direly predicting that the Smith’s play will lead to failure for the team, just like you did last season. You were wrong last season, and I think you are wrong now.
Moreover, none of your complaining is going to change anything, so the recycling of the same tiresome comments is pointless, self-indulgent and more than a little annoying. For God’s sake, lighten up and enjoy the ride.
Bay,
Unless there are some significant changes to our offense, our chances are making it to an NFC championship game or a superbowl are very thin.
Why? They came within a fumble in OT of going to the SB last year, so why would the chances be worse this year?
We lost to a Vikings team that only won three games last year. Our passing attack looks as average as it did last year with much better weapons.
Minnesota just shut down the Lions top rated offense in yardage and held them to 13 in their own building. This league changes quickly Bay and the Vikes are nothing like they were last season. They played the Niners really well last week and were buoyed by the homecrowd to play at a higher intensity level than the Niners did. They are 3-1 just like us. The weapons may be better, but the system is the same which is what I’m trying to get across here. Adding Moss and Manningham did not signal a departure from what Harbaugh and Roman believe in.
The Vikings did not provide any info that wasn’t already out there on how to beat the Niners. The Niners lose when they can’t run the ball effectively, give up big plays on defense and the pass protection allows consistent pressure. That’s pretty much how you beat any team in the league.
The team is 3-1 Bay. They are as good as any team in this league right now the way they are and will continue to get better. Houston and Atlanta are seen by most as the top two teams in the league right now and they aren’t ranked much higher offensively than the Niners are right now. Similar yard totals and an overall difference of about 10-20 points scored.
It’s about winning; not style.
Claude,
if you are correct than why did Smith throw more deep passes to WR’s this last game than he did the previous 5? Could it be that he was instructed to?
And why did they bring in a backup QB to also chuck it down field? Maybe because he was instructed to? That alone should tell you that this coaching staff wants to open it up. Maybe then do want fantasy football numbers….
Bay if you could not tell the game plan was to run the ball and take some occasional shots down field then you are biased.
The Niners had 9 different players contribute to the rushing totals. That’s not tryin to open it up. That was exploit the Jets poor run defense. The use of Kap was nothing more than a distraction and it worked.
Welcher, AES, for you guys to say that AS is choosing less down field plays and Kap chooses the bombs insted is so far fetched its embarrassing. You guys have no clue or evidence of that. This team is well coached and are instructed to follow the plan accordingly.
Bay,
The increase in deep throws came as a result of the fact they figured out Wilson was a liability in one on one deep coverage. They threw it at him and him alone every shot they took. They found a weakness and tried to exploit it. Good idea but I wish they had tried it earlier instead of on 3rd down everytime.
>>why did Smith throw more deep passes to WR’s this last game than he did the previous 5?
Umm, perhaps to test a secondary reeling from just losing it’s best player and emotional leader? Yes, maybe he was instructed to do that. Maybe he was working out of a game plan that takes into account the strengths and weaknesses of each individual opponent?
Come on, Bay! No offense to rocket, this is not rocket science.
@ Bay:
My guess (and it is only a guess) is that Smith and Manningham are still developing their chemistry, and the long throws to Manningham were part of the process. Also, testing Kyle Wilson seemed like a good idea. Were the Jets playing a two deep shell like the Vikings and Lions? If not, then the defensive coverage probably allowed for more shot plays.
I think Harbaugh had Kaepernick throw long to Moss to put it on tape for future opponents. If Kaepernick only comes in and runs the option, he will be relatively easy to defend.
Earlier, you mentioned that the Vikings game teams a “blue print” on the 9ers and on Smith, and presumably were warning us that other teams will use those blueprints to beat the 49ers. Would you care to articulate what those blueprints are? Those of us who lack football knowledge would be grateful for the education.
At first glance Claude the Vikings did something to the Niners that ironically the Niners did to GB two years ago. They brought nine bodies near the line but no one got in a stance.
It confused us. We never knew where the pressure was coming from or who was coming. They faked blitzes very well that day.
My opinion is that we should have run more draws and slot crossing routes against them and yes a deep shot or two to Moss.
Basically they sold coverages to Smith who too quickly checked down in that game. If a game and a situation ever called for taking more shots and more chances, it was that one and we took none.
And not to rehash because the game is over, but in the last ten minutes our QB looked lost and erratic.
No worries, if we played the Vikings again, I bet we beat them. I don’t however think we can beat Houston right now. And I think even a marginal Patriots team will give us problems with a healthy Hernandez…
Rocket,
Any win is great, but there are still a number of areas for concern based on this game that could come back to bite them when up against a better opponent don’t you think?
Jack,
There are still areas to improve on no question, but my point is each game is schemed, played and Coached differently. We see new bells and whistles seemingly every game. That is how this Coaching staff operates.
It’s why I didn’t overreact to the loss in Minny last week and why I don’t sweat the mistakes made in a 34-0 win. Each game is it’s own entity. The Niners have a philosophy they abide by, but are not locked into it to the detriment of losing if they can’t achieve it. Smith had a lousy passing line yesterday, but when you look at the fact he only threw it 21 times total and 8 in the second half, you see that there was no attempt at establishing a passing rhythm or a focus on it to try and win this game. They threw to move the ball a few times in the first half and pretty much shut it down in the second. It doesn’t mean they can’t do it. That is the difference I’m trying to emphasize here.
You don’t win Super Bowls with bells and whistles. Those are the Jokers in the deck. You win with your Aces, Kings and Queens.
Grant,
Right and those are Gore running the ball and Davis catching passes from Smith. Manningham is starting to become a bigger part of the passing game to complement Crabs, Hunter is starting to get more carries, and Kap is being given chances to come in and give a different look to the defense. At the core of this offense is Meat and Potatoes, kick your ass around the field mentality. The Bells and Whistles keep defenses off balance and supplement the core offense. Don’t confuse some creativity with depending on gadget plays. They win using the oldest model of offensive football there is: Physical running attack and good defense. It’s not complicated but it’s effective.
What was the last team that won a Super Bowl that way? The 2000 Ravens? They had a much better running back.
And I’m sorry, Smith is a 7 or an 8, not an Ace.
Grant
The onside kick to start the 2nd half of the NO Super Bowl was credited as being a turning point in the game. Isn’t that a bell & whistle play?
I’m talking about offense, not special teams.
You need meat and potatoes that can beat good defenses in the playoffs.
Grant,
The Steelers have always played that way and have won 2 SB’s in the past 5 years. This isn’t the Ravens of 2000. Smith has already surpassed what Dilfer was asked to do for that team in most games. You like to assume things before you have the evidence to do so Grant. I know you saw The Niners win games against the Eagles and Saints throwing the ball while coming from behind. I know you went to Lambeau and saw 15 of 17 passes completed to WR’s. This Coaching staff prepares a different gameplan against each individual team they face. Don’t try to define this team 4 games in. It just forces you to backtrack as you’ve had to do a few times already.
BTW, anytime you are ready to concede the JJ bet I’ll be happy to gloat. : )
You win the JJ bet!
The Steelers had Roethlisberger when they won those Super Bowls.
Roethlisberger was always money on third down, always a playmaker.
The Saints defense isn’t good. The Eagles defense was out of sync that game. They had a new defensive coordinator who didn’t know what he was doing. Asomugha was lost and Samuels blew a coverage.
You seem to get slightly perturbed when people disagree with you.
Please don’t be perturbed with me. I love debating with you. You’re tough.
Grant
Special teams matter just as much. A TD is a TD no matter who gets it. Same with a Turnover. Which is what an onside kick is, but better because the opponent never even got a chance to get the ball.
An onside kick (if successful) gives your team another shot with your offense while completely removing the opportunity for the other teams offense to take the field. It actually takes away a possession. Unlike a TO on the offense. In that case, the team actually had the ball.
Regarding the offense, I mentioned yesterday I didn’t like the playcalling especially on 1st and 2nd down. The 9ers don’t have plays they can call bread and butter pass plays that work consistently well. Using CK yesterday excited everyone, but for me, it looked desperate. How many SB teams in the last 15 yrs used their backup QB to run a college play? Yes, I know CK is athletic but so what. If the offense is clicking, no one would think twice about using CK. If I were the OC, I’d make sure that the bread and butter pass plays are working and that the WRs and the QB are in sync. Also, they need to see if their vertical game can be fined tuned just in case the defense gets behind by a couple of scores so there is the capability to score quickly and get back into the game.
Additionally, where are the mismatches? This 9er offense has talent with KW, KH, FG, VD, MC, MM, DW and RM. I was expecting more innovative and creative plays that would include using all of the weapons depending on the opponent and their defense. Yes AS missed a few yesterday that he should have made, but how does a QB get synergy with his receivers when they don’t throw more than 20 times a game? Yesterday was the perfect game to throw more. This Jets team wasn’t up to the task and it didn’t matter what the 9ers served them offensively they weren’t going to win the game.
Now some think CK will automatically make JH change his philosophy. I’m not so sure of that. We don’t even know yet that CK is better than AS. What leads us to believe that? Preseason? Not hardly! CK is very athletic but I don’t like the run option. Does it work? Sometimes. I have yet to see a team consistently use it and win. I have not seen a team use it and make it all the way to the Superbowl. Which teams make it to the Superbowl? Teams that can consistently perform their bread and butter plays, which includes the pass. They can turn on a vertical offense when behind by 7 or more. These teams have big play potential every time they touch the ball on offense.
Another aspect of the offense that has been bothersome is the sense of urgency. This was never more evident than last week against the Vikes. The 9ers clearly weren’t moving the ball consistently even into the 4th qtr yet they were huddling like the score was 0-0 in the 1st quarter. I’d say they looked flat, but their vertical passing game always looks that way. When they weren’t moving the ball, why not use no huddle for a series or two? To me, this is less desperate than using the run option this week against the Jets!
If the 9ers don’t throw the ball because of lack of confidence in their QB, then a change should be made. I don’t think that is the case. I believe this is their offense. It worked well at the college level , but in the NFL, they need to be able to consistently make their bread and butter pass plays. They also need to be able to turn on their vertical passing game when behind. The NYG, Pats, Ravens, Falcons, and Texans can make these plays. The 9ers cannot. Not yet.
hof
We ran the ball for a ton of yards. I think that part of the game-plan was sound.
Grant,
You’ll have to forgive me. I forget that my intended good natured jabs don’t always come across well in print. I’m not perturbed with you at all. You put yourself out there and deal with too many absolutes at times imo, which is why I was giving you a hard time about backtracking, but it was all in fun. I don’t ever take this stuff seriously enough to get angry so if something comes across as glib or mean spirited I apologize.
I don’t disagree that Roethlisberger is a better QB than Alex Smith. The point is they won with Roethlisberger putting up the same kind of numbers Smith has because they stick with the run and play good defense. No matter how much the league evolves, teams who run the ball well and play good defense will be in the playoffs contending for a title and the Niners do both.
You’re right, I need to work on avoiding absolutes. Sometimes I edit my comments to put in “probably’s.” It feels kind of silly.
The Steelers converted 8 of 15 third downs in 2005. I don’t think this Niners team could do that in the Super Bowl.
I agree the Niners will contend. The question is will they win the Super Bowl this year.
The Steelers and the Ravens old model of winning Super Bowls – the defense and the ground-and-pound offense – is the exception to the rule in today’s NFL, wouldn’t you agree?
It’s worth noting that the Ravens and Steelers are both passing teams now.
Hof,
This is about as concerned as I’ve ever seen you. No need to worry. What we are seeing is the evolution of the offense in regards to Kap. He is so athletic he just demands to be used in some regard and that’s what they are doing.
The passing game has not been sharp the past two weeks, but we need to keep things in perspective. It’s tough to play on the road, and in this case playing back to back weeks in the Eastern time zone. They did the same type of run last year in Cincy and Philly and those games were ugly at times too. Don’t put too much stock into what you saw yesterday in terms of how you view the Coaches confidence in their players or gameplan. They saw the Jets getting gashed in the running game and made a decision to exploit that to the max. Against Buffalo, the gameplan may involve other things we haven’t seen yet. Different team, different week, different plan.
They are definitely the exception now Grant, but that’s not always a bad thing. Baltimore has started out passing more but they have been in some tight games the past 3 weeks, so how well is that working for them? Sometimes you can get too cute instead of sticking with what got you there. Remember, the Ravens were a dropped pass in the endzone from going to the SB last year. The Niners will be fine as long as they continue to do what they do well. I’d be more concerned if I saw them come out throwing the ball 70% of the time. That would show me desperation in all honesty because that’s not the offense these guys run.
If you look at the two teams believed to be the best in the league right now – Atlanta and Houston – Their offensive production isn’t much higher than the Niners. These teams win using all facets of the game.
I’ll leave it like this, if the Niners get into a hole in the next few weeks and lose badly, your concerns will have merit, but until I see that, I think they are just playing to the opponent and do what they believe will win them a game that week.
Rocket, I respect your opinion, but I wouldn’t put too much stock in this win either. If you take a look at all three phases of the team, the offense is the weakest. If they were a good (not excellent) passing team, they could have at least battled up to the gun with the Vikes. Yes I am concerned. Putting CK on the field when they don’t have bread and butter RZ pass plays, that did seem desperate to me. I wasn’t impressed. Plain and simple I don’t like the offense. What team has won the SB in the last 10 years with an offense that has limited passing ability?
>>You win with your Aces, Kings and Queens.
Alex, Gore, VD, MC, Akers, Lee, Justin, Aldon, Willis, Bowman, Carlos, Dashon… this team is loaded with face cards.
>>Regarding the offense, I mentioned yesterday I didn’t like the playcalling especially on 1st and 2nd down.
Hofer, as I posted earlier, look at this production on 1st down:
pass first play of the game, inc but leading to 14 yard PI. Niner first down.
26 yards on first and 20. Niner first down.
9 yards on first and 10. 2nd and 1.
23 yards on first and 10. Niner first down. Leading to Niner scoring drive.
12 yards on first and 10. Niner first down. Leading to Niner scoring drive.
12 yards on first and 10. Niner first down. (same drive as above).
25 yards on 1st and 10. Niner first down. Leading to Niner scoring drive.
And that was just the passing game. I think you are overreacting.
I found very interesting in listening to Harbaughs pressed was this. He said that the plays that Kaepernick ran yesterday are part of their base offense for all the QB’s. Not just Kaepernick.
JH also said that Kaepernick earned that playing time and it was not just given to him as part of a package or because of Tebow.
In my opinion, that means that we will be seeing more of Kaepernick in the near future. I can’t imagine Kaepernick not wanting to earn more playing time. I also heard Kap say after the game that he hopes that it leads to him getting even more playing time.
Slowly but surely, the changing of the guard!
Rib, here’s the first 9 plays of the 1st qtr:
Frank Gore rush to the right for 2 yards
Frank Gore rush to the right for 3 yards
Alex Smith incomplete pass to the right
Frank Gore rush to the left for 5 yards
Frank Gore rush to the right for 6 yards
Colin Kaepernick rush to the left for 17 yards
Alex Smith pass to the left to Mario Manningham for 26 yards
Colin Kaepernick incomplete pass to the middle intended for Randy Moss
Frank Gore rush to the left for 3 yards
Yeah, I guess I overreacted! LOL
>>Rib, here’s the first 9 plays of the 1st qtr:
Actually, the first play was a long pass that netted 14 yards in PI yardage
1st and 10 at SF 20 A.Smith pass incomplete deep right to M.Crabtree. PENALTY on NYJ-K.Wilson, Defensive Pass Interference, 14 yards, enforced at SF 20 – No Play.
We did start slow in the first half. But I thought there was some very imaginative playcalling in this game. Remember last year when JH dusted off the fly sweep to great acclaim in these parts? Now similar moves are slammed as “tricks” on this board.
I dont get it. Even at this early stage, with our “crap” offense, we are #11 in the league in points scored, #4 in points differential and 9/10s of this board is moaning that the end is nigh. Incredible.
ribico
I bet that had AS hit on all the deep passes(no penalties) and the final score been 28-10 people would be happier. Just because AS hit on all the deep passes.
The board should be named “Inside the fans minds of AS” Because that is all anybody discusses. Not a shutout on the road.
I rewatched the game last night and to hear the comments on this board you would have thought it was Tony Romo playing for the 49ers.
Alex missed one throw to Crabtree, the rest of them were what every QB goes thru throughout the course of a game. Some bad drops, throwing under pressure, miscommunications, whatever, its all part of the game. Some are expecting perfection from Alex and thats just unbelievable.
I went to the game in NY and it was the exact same thing I had seen on TV. A poor rush defense by the Jets getting exposed. At the game I noticed their defensive linemen standing up at the LOS and getting pushed back. Guys were trying to arm tackle Gore and every other rusher. The coaching staff must have picked up on this as they kept pounding it at them.
As for 23welchers claim that the sideline got excited when Kaepernick scored and was in the game, that’s a load. It was his first NFL TD, of course they were excited for him. They didnt play faster when he was in and the bomb to Moss should not have been thrown, there was three guys deep and the last safety was just waiitng for Moss to run into his zone.
Yesterday someone mentioned that Alex choses the safe play at the LOS and Kap choses the deep pass. I am wondering if some of these guys are wearing the green dotted helment and they can hear what the plays are? Like cmon guys, stop saying things that you have no idea about. I know you hate Alex but now you are fishing for anything and it sounds riduculous.
FDM
Did you see Monday Nights game? Cutler got a nice bit of yards after the game was well decided in the 4th quarter. The Bears passed and didn’t sub their backup QB in midway thru the quarter.
The Niners, in the same situation, ran the ball virtually every time. Then put in CK mid way thru the quarter.
People will compare the stats and passing attack, but won’t bother to bring up this important detail. We run the ball with a nice lead. Other teams throw it. That matters a lot to the stats.
Fantastic write-up Rocket. Do you mind if I copy-pasta it over at footballpros? With full credit to you of course.
msc,
Not at all and thanks.
Thanks Rocket.
http://footballpros.com/showthread.php/11870-A-sane-fan-s-reaction-to-the-Jets-game?p=125209#post125209
If Grant doesn’t like my link he can edit it. I can’t.
(kidding)
I don’t have football conversations with my wife because I don’t want a cheerleader’s view of what the team is doing. I read 250 between prime and ds and I have to check and see if my wife is using an upstairs computer.
The comments lack any football insight or knowledge. They are 250 ways of saying the same thing. Are we really that far from an ignore button?
SF can’t take the had in NY and expect to beat a playoff contender. Alex Smith lacked touch on his passes. He looked unprepared and frazzled.
I don’t know how long you can honestly expect wide recievers like Moss or Manningham to sacrifice their bodies without production down the field.
NFL contracts are full of incentives. Alex Smith is not helping anyone get paid. I think perhaps that is why you are seeing a lack of production on offense. These guys are quitting. If you take the time to watch Moss and Manningham block, they hold the block about 2 seconds and then walk toward the pile. They aren’t matching physicality. Minnesotta showed an area of concern. I expect Buf and NY to follow suit.
It’s funny you should say that Matt. I was just thinking to myself DS/Prime, is the poster child behind participation medals. Give someone something they haven’t earned and baby them and this is what you breed. A need for constant attention and subservient to the comments of everyone else.
Matt/ Frank,
Very well said. These 2 are called SMithers. They are Alex Smith fans, not Niner fans. They will defend him until he is not rought back next year and then they will follow him to his new team. Even scarier is that it’s been rumored that they are the same guy! lol.
Alex winning games bothers you doesnt 23welcher? Still bitter about last year, the playoff game, training camp, Johnosn gettin cut? Now more predictions of Smith being gone or gettin benched. Too funny. Don’t be bitter pal, winning is what we all want, and Alex has been delivering! 3-1 and onto the Bills.
welcome matt
They lack insight because it takes a blind person to be unhappy with 34-0. You provided great insight though. Your anger here will be welcomed by many. Piss on the team. You’re a real fan alright. It is the job of fans to cheer their team by the way.
>>If you take the time to watch Moss and Manningham block, they hold the block about 2 seconds and then walk toward the pile.
And if the coaches see what you are “seeing” in their film, you better believe that will be all over those”slackers” like stink on sh*t.
>>Alex Smith is not helping anyone get paid.
And if those who *are* getting paid thought that, they’d leave him the game for how long? Oh, just long enough to get paid for 16 wins in the last 20 regular season games.
Tip: please ask your wife for some football advice.
ribico
She’s a lucky gal. Can’t you tell he can really sweep a lass off her feet?
The announcers by the way rib(since you were at the game) pointed out how RM was doing a fine job blocking. But Matt goes away from his wife to discuss football. So I’ll take his word over the guy who was an actual NFL player.
DS, I watched the game on my DVR after I got back from my celebratory dinner. I have no idea what matt is talking about. I’m sure the coaches don’t either.
@ ribico:
I have no idea what matt is talking about.
That’s okay. Neither does he.
I can understand being happy over a win. I was stoked they won. Now, I’ve enjoyed the win, I am being realistic. Randy Moss walks to the pile. Manningham walks to the pile. I’m mentioning something that you can watch for next week.
Randy Moss and MM both have incentive based contracts. Those incentive based contracts don’t list wins. They list individual numbers.
The difference between your comments and mine are checkers and chess. If you enjoy watching a 2 dimentional game and commenting on that 2 dimentional game, just ignore the post. It’s talking about a 3rd dimention you aren’ t seeing.
Matt
People are mad at me for beinbg happy about the win. If the posts seem repitive, they are only because the topic is “Why be happy?” There are only so many ways of putting it. Maybe you should direct something towards those who are mad that I’m happy about a win.
And if you tire of my/primes posts, then it was ohhh so stupid of you to bring us up. Because look. There are more replies from me. That strategy is working. No worry. You’ve got plenty of company in that regard.
I didn’t know chess was three dimensional.
Yeah, you’re just too smart for us.
I had to go to the Jet’s replays to show Randy Moss not blocking on a play but jogging to the action. First example was on the Kaepernick TD run. He just jogged across the field.
The second instance, Hunter is running the ball ot the outside in the third quarter. Randy moss initially engages on a block then lets go. The CB ends up making the tackle on Hunter 5 yards up the field and Moss just walks up to the action.
claude
Well, it is common to pick up the pieces (adding height as the 3rd dimension). So, maybe he means that.
Matt,
No worries, youve just been attacked by the Alex SMith protection agency. They get paid to attack any poster on this blog who does not sing Smith’s praises or bow at his feet. They don’t acknowledge any of his faults. To them, Smith is a messiah. He is the chosen one. They wont admit that he is average. Dont take what they said personally. They are spititually attached to him. They will be gone, along with him, very soon!
+1
>>They get paid to attack any poster on this blog who does not sing Smith’s praises or bow at his feet.
No, we just have a natural reaction to irrational nonsense.
Ribico,
Smithers on the attack. That’s who you are. Guy gives his opinion about your idol and you Smithers jump him and try to demoralize the guy. Even though he was new on the blog and was just expressing himself. You guys just can’t face the fact that Alex Smith is a liability and won’t be on this team next year. Get used to it, get ready for it. All the attacks from you guys and girls can’t help his play.
Heat,
Have you been working on that spelling???
23welcher are we betting or are you turtling your big mouth that Kap will start against the GMen or Seahawks?
Prime/BS,
How do you guys do it? I mean every day? The game is on BS. Let’s watch the game.
Im rewatching the Niners game. Did you know Jets secondary was all 1st picks. That’s an underrated secondary.
So welcher if you cannot afford money, let’s bet something else. Whatever you want. Do we have a deal? C’mon big mouth, man up?
>>Smithers on the attack. That’s who you are. Guy gives his opinion about your idol and you Smithers jump him and try to demoralize the guy
YOUR, I know reading comprehension, comprehension of any sort, is not your strong suit. Let me explain. This matt fellow comes on the board and unprovoked, insults posters here, comparing them to his “cheerleader” wife who knows nothing of football, compared to his vast knowledge. (though gotta agree with DS, his backhanded swipe at the wife must go over great with the little lady). And smithers are attacking *him*? Got it.
Matt,
Hang on a second – not all wives/women are cheerleaders…some of us try to be objective without wearing blinders regarding #11 (or anyone else for that matter).
One thing I did notice where RM is concerned – last week he seemed to half-a$$ try to catch a few passes – one where he flung his arm up, and another where he just watched it sail. I haven’t seen him being haf a$$ed on the LOS or in blocking schemes, but I haven’t been looking for it either.
What really caught my attention against the Jets was when he actually tried to come up with the ball that Kaep threw – it was a level of effort I haven’t seen him produce for an AS thrown pass. Could have been trying to make a point about his QB preference, or I could be reading way to much into it – either way it makes me wonder if you’re on to something regarding his motivation (or lack thereof).
It’s not like RM hasn’t laid an egg before when he didn’t think it was worth his while (anyone remember him as a Raider?).
49ergirl it was a joke but I apologise if it was offensive. My wife was a cheerleader and I tease her about football, but she actually has a great knowledge for the game.
The comments about Smith lack substance. Randy Moss made some great blocks that could have been better had he held the block longer.
You bring up some great points too though. I saw the same lack of effort in some catches last week. It surprised me because I thought he was going into Minn with something to prove. So, I watched more closely this week at what Moss was doing. His blocks reminded me of Torry Holt and Issac Bruce.
Matt,
That’s probably why he hasn’t been playing that many snaps. Moss is not a blocker. He is a receiver and I’m sure he is having difficulty adapting to the expectations of a WR in this offense. As long as he keeps his attitude in check and takes some defenders downfield with him I’m sure the team is fine with that.
No worries – I kind of figured what you were getting at with your comments :-) Besides, I’m not easily offended or I wouldn’t be hanging out in this blog, lol!
FDM says:
October 1, 2012 at 11:11 am
“AES, what do you think of the job Greg Roman is doing with this offense and do you see the offense struggling because of Alex or the playcalling?”
@FDM
I’m somewhat baffled at the playcalling. At the moment I find it confusing that we moved away from our bread n butter (run game) during the Vikes game. Then went heavy to the run against the Jets.
My mindset is that Harbaugh and Roman are going to do run different wrinkles at teams accordingly.
Right now AS is not being completely accurate on some throws, WR’ are still making some drops, and the playcalling becomes too conservative at times.
To answer your question, it’s a combination of many things, certainly not all on AS.
I felt that had the offense not been so sluggish against the Vikes we could have had a chance to win even when our defense had an off day.
Harbaugh is the master chess player. I believe we could have easily beat the Jets without CK. But showing a new wrinkle on offense was a move that had future ramifications. Harbaugh’ game plans are meant to beat the team on the field as well as send messages to upcoming opponents.
AS will find his groove (chemistry) with RM and it looks like MM is becoming the key signee over the summer.
FDM, the offense will hit it’s stride soon and AS will be at the helm when it happens.
Offensive snap count vs the Jets:
Alex Smith: 61 snaps.
Vernon Davis: 61.
Frank Gore: 47.
Delanie Walker: 41.
Michael Crabtree: 40.
Mario Manningham: 32.
Bruce Miller: 29.
Kyle Williams: 22.
Randy Moss: 22.
Kendall Hunter: 18.
Garrett Celek: 14.
Will Tukuafu: 12.
Colin Kaepernick: 11.
Ted Ginn Jr.: 8.
Moss played 22 snaps and had one pass thrown his way? Again I ask, why did the 9ers sign this guy if they aren’t going to use him? If this is our plan then cut Moss and get AJ Jenkins some play time.
Moss does not fit in this offense. Even when Kap came in to throw the bomb, the Jets defense had three guys on him. He commands the deep attention but thats all he does. He is a one trick pony.
Play Jenkins and Williams and sorry but Moss, your done.
Wah. THEY ARE NOT USING MOSS LIKE THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO!
Really because I would salivate knowing I had a weapon that commanded that type of attention. I didn’t see one screen pass on RM’s side to take advantage of the triple coverage.
Next time CK come in don’t you think you’ll see a crossing pattern underneath taking advantage of the wide open spot afforded to us by RM garnering all that attention?
Imagine if the Niners had traded up for Andy Dalton instead of Colin Kaepernick. The Niners probably would be Super Bowl favorites right now. Instead, they’re behind the Texans, Ravens and Patriots, and maybe the Giants.
Or what about Ponder. I think Ponder and Harbaugh are a match made in heaven.
Ponder was the 12th pick. Dalton was the 35th. The 49ers probably could have traded up with the Patriots at No.33 to take Dalton before the Bengals did. Maybe Harbaugh and Baalke thought the Bengals would pass on Dalton.
I was hoping for Ponder to fall to us that year and was really surprised the vikings took him so early.
Gee, imagine if the Niners had taken Rodgers instead of Smith!
Grant, those hackneyed what-if’s are the realm of internet yahoos, not journalists like yourself. Please don’t lower yourself to it.
Not really fair. No one knows what Kaep can do. He needs playing time to become seasoned. He could be one of the most explosive weapons in the NFL or he could be a turnover machine. No one knows….
But we know what Dalton can do. He’s very good.
Dalton has played well but he’s benefitting from having an elite WR in AJ Green that catches everything. I’ve watched Dalton in College and a few times with the Bengals and there is nothing overly impressive about his skill set. He just throws it up and Green goes and gets it. Shows how important it is to have a big time playmaker on the outside.
I think Kap has a much higher ceiling than Dalton but will take longer to develop because of the offense he played in.
The only teams that matter are the division teams. And none of them made your list Grant. I don’t think the Giants who have lost 2 division games and a home game are that much better. Nor a Pats team who fell behind the Bills, after losing 2 straight.
The teams that matter are the other Super Bowl contenders. The goal is to win the Super Bowl, not the division.
We don’t know those teams Grant. Last year, we weren’t one. Not to mention your list includes a lot of AFC teams. Only face 1 of them in the playoffs. And the Pats don’t stand a chance next to our defense. Brady was fortunate not to play us last year.
The Patriots offense matches up very well against the 49ers defense.
The Niners struggled with Percy Harvin and Kyle Rudolph. How will Niners handle Wes Welker and Rob Gronkowski?
One step at a time Grant: you can’t be a true Super Bowl contender unless you make the playoffs and the best way to make the playoffs is to win your division which will not be a cakewalk this year with Seattle and Arizona playing they way they have thus far.
I agree with you Grant. I was all over this blog begging them to pick up Dalton. I think you’re right though that they thought Cincy would pass on Dalton so they took the next best QB they saw and that was Kaepernick.
The zinger of the day though, “The goal is to win the Super Bowl, not the division.” High five on that one.
Harbaugh and Baalke had almost a full day to offer the Patriots a good deal for the No.33 pick. I think that was a whiff.
How so Grant? We can get pressure with 4 man rush. Like the Giants but a lot better players behind that rush than they have.
The Pats defense is two weeks removed from being completely shut down by the Cardinals at home. I think we’ll be ok.
Rib,
I agree. It’s amazing how quickly the expectations have changed for some 9er fans. Now it’s not just about winning, but it’s the style of winning that matters. I just want to win the freaking games. I couldn’t care less how they do it.
Don’t [really] care about who’s #1 right now, I want them to be SB favorites come the first week of FEB 13′. They are still top 5 right now anyway.
IMO, the Pat’s do not match up well with the Niners at all, on either side of the ball. As long as the D tackles like they should, we match up well against anybody. I can elaborate if you’d like Grant, but I gotta go now.
I’d love to read your elaboration. The defense seems to struggle with quick slot guys and big tight ends. The Patriots have those in spades.
Grant
We’ve lost 5 total games under JH. CR is one of the best slot CB’s in the NFL. Our S play is solid. Big play offense depends largely on miss tackles/assignments. Two things we don’t do. TB gets flustered easily. That is why the Pats have lost the last 2 Super Bowls.
Welker is quicker than Rogers, and no one on the Niners can cover Gronkowski.
What happens when the Patriots split Gronk out wide, like they love to do, especially in the red zone?
Does Whitner cover him? Yikes.
Forget Gronk, what about Hernandez?
You’re right, Hernandez is another matchup problem for the Niners’ defense.
Well, they have 1 quick guy and 1 big guy, Hernandez is out. B Lloyd is still a head case. Hernandez is only 6-2 and NOWHERE near as fast as VD, the defense sees 2 better TE all the time. Not as big of an advantage as is is against other teams.
Welker is no where near as quick as Harvin, or Cruz for that matter, and he’s easier to tackle, Rogers can handle him. Nobody can really cover Gronk, the dudes 6’7, but they have as good a chance as anyone with the 2 best cover MLB on the same team. They can use the same nickel 2 man coverage they used against GB, except Brady will not elude the pass rush. The Pats OL would get seriously beat up by the Niners defensive front. If they split Gronk out wide, get in his face and make Brady try to slide the pass in front of the freight train we call D Goldson, he won’t beat you with his feet, his height is his only advantage.
Bray,
Brandon Loyyd is still making lots of plays for that team and is really going to be in sync with Brady by the time we play them.
J23- Maybe so.. The guys has some serious mitts, I still remember the awesome 1 handed over his head catch he made against the Giants game at the Stick a few years back, 07?
The Pats always seem to struggle against real physical teams, as oppossed to teams that ‘try to run’ with them. I just think JH wants Belicheck’s head on his wall more than any other coach, that might make a difference too.
Bray
Correct. Basically a good defensive team can beat the Pats. You make them play your style of game. As opposed to trying to fling it around and get the game into a high scoring fiesta. The Pats are comfortable in that style game. Chances are you’ll lose that kind of game.
Winning in the NFL is a lot about making the other team play under your terms. Chances are, they can’t do what you do as well as you do. So, you get the leg up on them on that fact alone.
>>The defense seems to struggle with quick slot guys and big tight ends.
Wait, weren’t we hearing that same thing about Colston and Graham before last year’s playoff game with the Saints? Jeez. How did we *ever* win that game??? Oh, with punishing defense and a shootout that we were never supposed to be capable of.
A lot of people posting gloom and doom now are going to look *very* stupid before this season plays out.
Ribico they already are looking stupid. First of all every team has matchup problems. Look at the Cowboys last night. Their secondary and oline got exposed. It happens. Romo was off big time. Does that mean they should bench him. That’s what a hater would do. Quick fix for everything.
Our passing offense is something that needs work. Has it cost us any games? Hell no! The playcalling has and the lack of execution is on everyone, Alex included. I don’t understand the foreshadowing that its only going to get worse when we have to consistently throw it deep. We are never gonna be that team that does that!
Prime
They should bench the Cowboy franchise right now. They are 14-12 in their new $1.1 Billion home. That was money well spent.
Whoops my post above should have gone here.
Good point, Grant. I think the Niners were actually caught off-guard when the Bengals took Dalton – they traded up for Kaep immediately after that happened (almost seemed like a panic move because all their other acceptable QB draft choices had been taken).
Personally I think Harbaugh can work wonders with any QB and bring out their best performances. Kaep will just take a little more time to develop than some of the QB’s who went before him in the draft.
Interesting take from Harbaugh’ presser.
He said that Kap’ plays were not special packages, and that AS practices the same plays in practice.
That statement leads me to NOW believe that CK called the long pass to RM on his own and not called from the sideline as I previously thought.
It also brings up another interesting point. If both QB’ are practicing the same plays then it becomes a matter of choice during their game play. AS is making a choice not to take a deep shot at RM, while CK makes the throw.
AS will only take a shot if it’s open. CK will take a shot even with triple coverage. This could become an issue down the road if WR’ feel that AS is not giving them a chance to make a play by playing to safe. CK on the other hand seems to have a ‘throw caution to the wind’ mentality.
I’ll definitely keep an eye out on this one.
Its already been an issue with MC. I’ve seen the guy personally throw his hands up in disgust because he wasn’t even looked at. Why do you think ds Hates MC. It’s because he isn’t sold on AS. He doesn’t come out and say it, but its obvious.
True… but maybe Kap felt the need to ‘show something’ and being young, F’it… I’m chucking this thing up, I’ve got nothing to lose. It was a terrible decision that was almost rewarded. That’s fairly common Could you imagine the blog if Moss actually came down with that pass yesterday?
** That’s fairly common with backup QB’s ** To take more chances that is, is what I meant to say, everybody loves the backup!
AES,
Maybe, but the playcalling was geared toward making use of Kaps running ability moreso than his passing. The throw to Moss was ok with me, but the execution wasn’t good and I think we see now that Moss is not the same player he was a few years ago. He barely gets off the ground now. I think I like him more as a decoy than a guy to throw it to in double coverage.
Cosell just went on KNBR and said that Kap’s throw to MOss was terrible.
Decision was terrible. Pass was poor (better than terrible). I judge QB by their decision making before anything else.
Sure you do. So you supported smith when he was the int king? Great decision bs.
get a phone md. The only BS is you.
Get a phone? Wtf is that?
Crickets…………. Yawn
Curious…the pass I saw to Moss into triple coverage was there for Moss to catch right through his hands.
Nolan, that wasn’t all he said. Tell them what he said about smith! Lol
Nolan,
it wasn’t a smart attempt. But Kaep has faith in Moss based on what he saw in training camp and hearing about the legend. Moss true to form made a play on the ball and outjumped everyone for it. Based on his body positioning, he should have caught it.
Bay,
I said the same thing. Moss didn’t attack it and 2 of the defenders were around but not around the ball. I’ll bet you that he appreciated the shot and woke up a Kaepernick fan today. Kap knew what he was doing. Curry favor with the receivers by giving them a chance to make plays for the ball. It wasn’t picked. If it had been, it was inside f the jets 20 anyway. PUNT!!!
That was a terrible throw. Maybe that’s why they didn’t try another one. If FG is off his game, bring in CK.
In football theory you don’t throw the ball into triple coverage.
When throwing to R.Moss, you don’t necessarily follow the norms.
I’m not exactly sure how long the pass from CK traveled, but it still reached RM’ hands even though he was extremely covered.
I agree with Cosell, it was a bad attempt. But only in theory.
Randy Moss makes that catch more often then not, which gives CK a pass IMO.
The old Moss makes that catch. The current Moss doesn’t.
Were you guys able to see on TV when Kaep went to exit the field and lined up wide at WR near the side line? The Jets lost him and he was uncovered. A Jets coach finally called timeout before Smith hiked the ball.
Great try by Harbaugh. Did you catch that on TV?
You couldn’t see it on T.V.
Great looking out Bay. The cameras did not pick this up and neither did the announcers.
MD was right. You could see much more in a live setting (lol).
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Best team and coach in the NFL…
not so best QB in the NFL…
the team can only go so far, #11 has to take them to the top..
i am not a believer
That’s OK, the only people who need to believe are in the locker room. All we as fans have to do is support the TEAM.
Accidentally recorded the raider and bronco game yesterday. And decided to watch it so I could see if Manning looked as bad as he did last week. Answer????? NOPE! That guy still has it. His pocket awareness is second to none. He doesn’t get sacked often because he throws it away out of bounds or where only his reciever would catch it or nobody does. Certain folks on here last week was taking shots at his bad 1st quarter play, to make a case for smith and were glad we didn’t sign him. You folks are flat out delusional. I’m backing smith, but if I had a choice… It wouldn’t be a choice. Dude still has it.
MD,
The Kaepernick bandwagon is gonna get crowded real fast and i don’t want you to get a bad seat in the back bro. I’ll be by the pole to pick you up in 2-3 weeks homeboy. Have your Kap jersey by then and be ready!
But will he be able to see you with the Troy Smith, Nate Davis, and Josh Johnson bandwagons in the way?
So 23welcher predicts Kap to start against the Giants or Seahawks.
Do you wanna bet 23? This time cold hard cash, any amount you want. Do we have a deal?
fraud, PRIME/DS,
Prime are you and DS the same woman? Fraud , you still havn’t given me your new ream when Smith leaves?
Do we have a deal?
23 name changer
You are a mental patient. I wasn’t involved in this thread. You keep bringing me up as if I were. Hate really blinds you. If claude or prime are replying to you in this thread, keep your responses to them.
By not doing so, you are really just being a dork.
Do you think ck is really ready Jordo? And I mean to play and run the offense better than smith right now? I don’t know if he is, and is it worth the gamble with the rest of the team being so good.
Md,
Just tell me what Kap can’t do that Smith can? Read defenses, hell, Smith can’t do it either. Our receivers want to see him. Believe that. Where does Kap hurt this team? Tell me?
That’s the thing J… I don’t know what he can do, but right now the defense is back on track and the offense hasn’t been hitting on all cylinders for the past two weeks. Although they looked good in the first two weeks. I’m not ready to pull the plug yet. If smith doesn’t improve the next couple of games and especially our division games. Then yeah why not ck.
@ ninermd:
Please don’t feed the troll.
It’s the offense and the playcalling. The philosophy is the same.
Claude: J23 is good with me bro. He’s not a fan of Smith we all know that. It’s up to smith to prove it. Not any of us. Can’t we all just get along. Lol
Md,
But you do know what Smith can do. maybe you think thT Smith can do more. Answer me this. Do you think that Smith;
1. has better pocket presence than Kap?
2. Has more speed than Kap?
3. Has a better grasp of the offense than Kap?
4. Has a stronger arm than Kap?
5. Plays with more confidence or composure than Kap?
6. Has better field vision than Kap?
7. Has better decision making savvy than Kap?
8. Can win games for us that Kap can’t win?
9. Can make throws that Kap can’t make?
10. Can make something out of a broken play better than Kap?
I got Alex Smith winning 1 1/2 of those questions. He may know the offense better. He maybe tied as far as decision making is concerned. Everything else, I give to Kap.
this party is soooo old!!!!!
Good call MD.
A case could be made for Kevin Kolb as well.
Wasn’t it just few weeks ago that a few notables here were writing his eulogy?
Go figure (lol).
Guess it’s safe to say that no player can be written off. AS proved that last year, and I trust he will do it again this season.
The Jets owner who is a Romney Lover says Romney winning is more important than the Jets season. Well his football team sucks, with King Toes leading the way and Romney will most likely lose next month. We love ya Woody.
http://aol.sportingnews.com/nfl/story/2012-10-01/jets-owner-mitt-romney-woody-johnson-over-winning-season
On a serious note. The state of this country right now is by faaar more important than any football season. I wished more Americans knew that. That’s all I’m going to say about this topic. Just thought I’d plug a little importance and priority in. ;-)
Let’s leave politics off of the 9ers blog PLEASE!
Clearly, Alex Smith is a republican!!!! Lol
@Jordan,
AS is a Republican for sure, rich white guy from San Diego, and that is why I am a Democrat, because I am not a rich white guy, also my two best friends who are white and own their own businesses and are both Republican and well off.
Neal,
I only say Alex is republican because he is conservative on offense. I could care
Less about $$$. Money doesn’t make good people. People make money.
I’m gonna believe that eyou didn’t call me a dumbass. If you did, I hope you would apologize because you didn’t ask me what I meant, you assumed you knew.
Alex is a good guy. I’ve always said that. He just isn’t a good QB. That’s it, that’s all.
Both of you are dumbasses, there I said it for you both!
Jordan,
That was not meant for you. Latino Heat made a post that said you must be a dumb black man, ( pointed at me) Grant erase it, so now it makes no sense.We are good. I got pissed off at Latino Heat, being a prejudice bastard. We are cool bro.
Their is prime , who has no time and plenty of time.
I figured it probably wasn’t you Neal. It didnt sound like Neal. Latino Prime DS is a really troubled puppy. They are all the same and really need a life. What can you say.All good. It’s amazing what a bad starting QB will do for a blog.
So what did you think of our future QB?
Lets bet on that future QB big mouth? You said 2-3 weeks so that means GMen or Seahawks, deal or not, whatever you want. I just need an answer before you run your mouth again. What do you say big talker Betty Crocker?
Jordan,
Kaep adds a dimension that AS does not have, but the jury is still out , I am not sure what his passing abilty is, does he have a nice touch, can he throw the ball accurately. Too early to tell for me.
BSPrimeheat,
Get a life, and a new team, Alex Smith 12-21- 143 yards. Bwahahahaha!
Hahahaha welcher, even your boy Neal agrees that it’s not time to “warm up Kap”. Bay said the same thing that he needs more seasoning. That’s priceless, even the biggest haters disagree with you, what does that say for your football IQ? Hahahah, clown!
We betting or what?
Neal,
Just know that Kap can’t do any worse than what we already have back there. Smith is not even close. You gotta get that coaches 22 film bro. You see other QB’s making throws in space that Alex Smith has ever made in his career.
JH has to be tired of doing damage control with Smith. Now I know why so many practices were closed to the media.the They had to hide the diaper.
Why do I need a new team? The QB on my team keeps winning. If anyone needs a new team it’s you. How bout the pass happy 0-4 Saints who you said Alex could not win against. Or how about that deadly front four of the Lions who you also said Alex could not beat. Even better the ferocious Rex Ryan overload blitz team who Alex could never win against. Pick any of the 3 you like. What does it matter, your 0 for 100 on this blog alone. Start fresh somewhere else.
Oh here we go with the 22 camera again. Did you ever find those 5 plays that Crabtree ran a route over 29 yards that you bet FDM on? Didn’t think so welcher!
Now your tryin to convince Neal and MD to follow your horse crap? Not even the Alex doubters are ready to throw in the towel cause they know you don’t panic at 3-1 loser!
It’s sad how Smiths stats say he is no better than last year. Through a quarter of the season. He’s averaging 190 yards passing. He has 5 tds and 1 int. That’s 190 yards per game 18-20 TD’s 4-6 ints. Same old Alex Smith to me. It will be even less, now that he’s sharing duties with Kaepernick. KEEP KAEPERNICK WARMED UP!
Prime: I think Alex Smith deserves a new deal.
BS: Yeah me too.
Prime: I think 10-12 Million.
BS: Yeah me too.
Prime: We should lobby for that on this blog.
BS: Yeah me too.
Bwahahahahahahahahah!
Sure Alex Smith has had two bad games and doesn’t appear to have a deep game, but I don’t want to see Kaepernick start for Smith this year. I like the idea of him coming in on packages, but I just don’t think the QB is the answer/problem. I think the playbook needs to be more aggressive.
I agree with Hofer no politics please! I’m way outnumbered in these parts. Lol
What the hell, one comment.
“Reagan was the Ray Lewis of politics!”
Now I’m done.
23welcher show me where I said 10-12million and I will leave the blog forever, if you can’t, you suck this fart out of my arse? Deal?
See Jordan you can never win cause you lie. A liar and a big mouth don’t go far anywhere. In life or on a blog. Then you cry when people attack you. Your a sad, sad dude man!
Crabs,
Get ready for Kap bro, he coming hard and fast. Just like he said he was in the preseason. Why can everyone’s QB throw deep except fo Smith. Cutler just threw a perfect seed to Devin Hester.
Cutler all arm no brain! Kinda like your hero’s Johnson, Davis, T.Smith. All out losers who could not read a playbook or decipher a defense. I guess stupid is your campaign motto!
Matt,
I’ve got good news for you, JH said the plays Kaepernick ran yesterday were not parts of his package. He said Kapernick ran plays from the teams playbook. That both players have the same plays. That means that JH believes and it was evident in the game, that Kaepernick can run some plays more successfully than Smith. It’s coming to an end for Smith. Smith has flatlined. Kaepernick playing this week affected Smiths play. He did the best he could to get the ball deep. he just couldn’t make the proper throw.
Jordan,
JH likes Kaep and he see his potential and he will get his chance especially if AS plays inconsistently but I don’t think it will happen unless AS really has a string of bad games.
Neal,
Heres the part you’re missing. Harbaugh is not trying to win a playoff game. He is trying to win a super bowl. You must not have read Smiths contract language. You have to understand that we can’t wait for bad games. We’ve just had a couple of them. Every game it’s the same thing . We dont know what we are going to get from Smith I’ve said it for weeks and I’m sure you’ve read it. Alex Smith is inconsistent. That isn’t a mistake. That is the truth. Decent one week, horrible the next.
We can’t wait until the NFC championship game for Smith to have a bad game and for us to lose again. Mediocre QB play wint win us a super bowl.We need to know if Kap has it. he’s gonna be playing in the weeks to come. he won’t start but he will play. You’ll get your chance to see what I already know. We are no worse off with him than we are with Smith.
Neal I know I have not been nice to you but I got to ask you for a favor? 23welcher has been begging people all day to buy into his Kap campaign. Please just agree with him, I hate to see him cry again. He is desperate to find anyone to agree with him, it’s actually very sad!
Jordan,
I know Smith contract, basically it is one year at a time. I would love to have a elite QB, and if is Kaep so be it, but our defense can carry AS weaknesses because defense’s win championships. Again Jordan, the way Smith is playing the last two games he might be out of a job, but it is not like we have Steve Young on the side lines waiting for his chance. We should know this season if Smith is the guy or Kaep.
Neal,
We will be here to find out what we have. You have to get to the super bowl before you can win it. Go back and look at the last 2 games very closely. Nothing like last year. Those 1st 2 games this year, efficient. That’s not good enough to win a super bowl either. Remember, this is the regular season. Time will tell.
Monte Poole of the Bay Area News Group commended Jim Harbaugh for leading the 49ers to a 3-1 start to the season. Poole: “Harbaugh doesn’t care what you or I or anybody else cares to call it. He doesn’t care what you or I or anybody outside his locker room thinks about his game plan.”
In other words, this team isn’t ever gonna be like GB or NE or the saints where they just come out wingin it every game and you gotta stop it. We’re gonna take every game individually and find there weak spot and attack it over and over again. We’ve won the ground and pound, we’ve won the shoot outs, we’ve won the field position games. Any type of game that JH feels is necessary to win is exactly what we’re gonna do. So why go trying to compare Smith to elite Qb’s? This is old school football and Smith the perfect qb for it.
Personally, I like Kap but I dont want to turn into the Tebow led Bronco’s. I hate that kinda football. I like a balanced approach, run/pass. Yesterdays game sucked to me. I loved our defense and our run game but to me the play calling is stupid. Sometimes you go out there and pass 3 or 4 in a row then you get down there and you run 3 or 4 in a row then you kick a FG.
To me, why would anyone waste time looking at 49er tape? Theres nothing the same from game to game. Maybe thats what they want but if you do new things all the time you never have a chance to get real good at them. I think that explains why we just dont look in sync sometimes. Just some thoughts!
montana
Beyond all other things combined, elite QB ‘s win games. Every other facet of their game means zilch if they don’t win. Winning is elite. There are a lot of ways to do it. Finding a way to do it a lot is what makes you elite. Not your method of choice.
Trent dilfer was elite. He won a Super Bowl lol
Drew Brees is elite and he’s 0-4. Shame his D can’t keep a 28 point lead to win a game
Rex Grossman was elite. He won a championship game.
*snicker*
Jets looked aweful, Rex Ryan speaks, what wrong with the jets, jets offense needs work. These are some of the headlines I read today. How about
The 49ers defense is that good, Jim harbaugh speaks on his team, or 49ers: best team in the nfl?
It’s everything the Jets did wrong. Not what we did right.
Nope, we had nothing to do with it. ;)
>>It’s everything the Jets did wrong. Not what we did right.
And that’s not the “east coast” media making excuses how the Jets lost, it’s *our *media and bloggers making excuses about how we won. In a dominating shutout. smh.
The biggest thing I took away from watching the game was the maturity of Dashon Goldson.
He is on his way to becoming the best Safety in the NFL.
IMO, if we give either the o-line or the runningbacks a B, we’ve got to give the other an A – or extra credit to the coaching. 245 yards on the ground means something got done right.
And I’m a big Smith fan but I’ve got to give a higher grade to the receivers than him. I won’t say Smith was innacurate, I say he was too safe. He overthrew Manningham and Crabtree on deep routes a few times (by a foot) when they beat the secondary clean. Smith was keeping the ball away from the defenders; the trouble is, he also kept the ball away from the receivers. I was surprised not to see more of Williams and Davis in the slot.
Ed,
I agree with you 100%. Smith plays so safe at times not to turn the ball over, that he doesn’t realize that he’s preventing his wideouts from making plays on the abll as well. It happened an awful lot last year. This year, there have been instances where he just does not throw it all because the instant that he had to make the throw, he doesn’t. He’s missed Crabtree like that for 2 touchdowns in the last 2 games.
There are more great catches than great throws. The quarterback needs to give his receivers a chance to make a play.
He’s more concerned with not getting an INT than he is making a perfect throw. He would get a pass today if he hit on one of those misses but making two would have been great QB play.
Hofer,
Reality is a bitter pill to swallow but it will make you feel better in the end. After all, it is a pill. You think I wanted Alex Smith to be a bust when we drafted him? Cmon man. I’m a diehard! I just couldn’t take anymore or that bad,inconsistent play. He was still here because we paid him, we had to keep him.
Now Harbaugh realizes that Kap is almost ready and it’s about time to move on. The playbook is the way it is because the QB can’t quite cut the mustard. However, help is on the way!
Right on cue 23welcher both QB who you think are better than Alex make a dumb play and turn it over! Take the sack idiot and live for another down. Alex would never be that stupid and dance in the pocket holding the ball out like a loaf of bread!
Watch and learn son! Camera 22, Buwhahahahahaha!!!!!
While absolutely I agree Smith should take more chances, I don’t fall for comparative stats: I’m watching other QBs and I’d much rather win a game with 150 yards and no TD’s than 350 yards, a 1-2 TDs and 3-4 INTs. The Cowboys are a great example: You just don’t know what to rely on every week. I won’t say Smith is a 1st-tier QB (they don’t grow on trees), but I’d take him over 2/3 of the QBs in the league right now (e.g. Vick, Romo, Cutler, etc.). I am convinced the staff is prepping Kaep to start in a year or two, but after seeing him throw into triple coverage on Sunday, I’d temper expectations.
I can put up with Jim if he wins. If he loses? fire him.Then, I don’t like him anymore. Hows that for bottom line honesty?..I already see Dennis Allen as the spawn of satan.
Ha ha Romo! Pick 6!
Should’ve drafted Kaepernick Jerry, you twit!
It’s time for harbaugh to “kap” Alex smith he’s done
Hov,
2-3,weeks bro. Kap will be playing more and more every week. Prime said Smith deserves a new deal. 10-12 Million a year. Now that’s just plain silly!!!
Find it? Find it like Johnson is trying to find a job. Like he was going to be starting by week 6 for the Niners. Like Alex would not be back this year. Like you welched on your bet. Like your life is, complete and utter failure of predictions!
BSPRIME,
Are you that obsessed with me? Why are you stalking me tonite little fella. You must be lonely. Have you decided on your new team yet? You need to get it together. Alex Smith is a millionaire, he’ll be fine. Are you gonna be okay when he’s gone? Wow, you sound so miserable with your insults. How did you think Kap looked yesterday. In case you didn’t see him through those Smith rose colored glasses. He looked AMAZING!
23 – I think DS said that over a week ago not Prime.
Alex got the win. That seems to bother you. Are we betting or are you just running your mouth til you find someone who cares or agrees with you? Have you found anyone on here who thinks Kap should start over Alex? Put your mouth to rest and man up!
Crabs thanks! One day beer on me!
23, in your face pal!
There are several injuries at Wide Out around the league. Are we going to see TO in a Jets uniform or in another NY uniform? I think the NFL writers are sleeping on this one. They usually don’t need any prodding to say TO is coming back.
I’m watching Cutler and Romo competing to make the most boneheaded plays and I’m thinking, “you know, Adequate Alex isn’t all that bad”. Smith may only manage 150 yards per game but at least he doesn’t score points for the other team anymore.
Romo: 14 points for the Bears, 7 points for the ‘Girls
Greg Cosell on the Niners and Alex Smith. Warning, Smithers beware. It may be time for a change!
http://blog.sfgate.com/49ers/2012/10/01/how-does-sundays-offensive-creativity-reflect-on-alex-smith/
Oh no it’s Cossell, the guru of football. What else is he gonna say, he needs to stick to his Alex slashing, that’s all he’s got. Kinda like you, no where to go but down.
Cossell is respected by people who are paid to make football decisions.
Smithers may not like his honesty but NFL front offices do.
Who are these respected people who are paid to make football decisions?
That would be “NFL front offices”. Learn to read.
Hofer,
I guess you may be onto something. Cosell agrees with you.
Interesting column Jordan, I disagree with Cossell about manufacturing points. Kaep is a threat and Harbaugh is using him creatively and I will take Harbaugh mind over Cossell.
Here is the thing, AS has played two great games, one poor game and yesterday was below average. AS needs to get his act together because if he plays inconsistent even if they are winning, the writing will be on the wall and we will see more and more of Kaep, or someone else. I also believe if our defense was not this great, AS would of been gone already but the team can put up with his inconsistent play because our defense has been outstanding except against the Vikes, I am very concerned with AS third down play, his play has not improved even with his new toys.
I would like to see more of Moss and we hear about how great he was in practice but we are not using him well and I blame that on Smith and Roman.
Decent write up. It’s true. At this point Smith won’t even get to caddie for JH anymore lol. In all seriousness, Smith has regressed. Everyone knows it. And it’s unfortunate because it will force Kaep into action 1 year sooner than planned. He could have marinated one more year on the bench.
Smith now second guesses himself so much that he goes through progressions and pumps once pumps twice and just won’t let it go. He’s gotta be frustrated too. I’m confused too because Harbaugh said Smith was “an expert” in his system.
Romo 4 INT’s! What’s wrong Jerry?
Geez I am gone for a week, prospecting, come back watch the game last nite and I didnt recognize the offense. Smiths swagger is gone, and to take words out of Cosells mouth the offense seems to be manufacturing instead of executing. I didnt like what I saw whatsoever offensively. Either start and play AS all game or start and play Kap all game. Gimmicks are used to cover up ineptness in other places. 245 yards rushing most of it running not rushing. Passing sucked, AS looked akward and missing open receivers long, just missing but missing nevertheless. Kap throwing into triple coverage, geez whats wrong with you, you look good running but its not running that we need. I thought the play calling was worst then the Vikings game. Our defense was solid, except Aldon on his personel foul play, rather stupid on his part. Special teams well Ackers was due for a bad game and it couldnt have come at a better time. The Jets suck, Sanchez sucked, and their coaching sucked. So winning that game has little merit except in the win column.
Under center,
Very interesting take. I see it as well. You missed JH presser. He said today that the plays from Kap are from part of the offense. Not part of a package. That Kap has earned thT playing time he got. I think he’s gonna be playing more in the weeks to come. AT least that’s what I think.
Jordo
I expected and still am expecting a Super Bowl team and right now I dont see it. And its in all phasses of the team and coaching so far. Its got to get better.
Yippie your trying to find a friend. “look everyone, I’m a hater, follow me, follow me, I’m lonely”
Pathetic 23welcher, utterly pathetic!
You’re.
Learn to English you baboon.
Hahahaha lemons, now you are name calling, oh how the mighty have fallen.
Alex winning games has changed you into a bitter old man lemons, it’s so justice!
You are correct Prime. I was out of line calling you a baboon.
My apologies.
(you’re still wrong though)
No worries lemons its all good!
DSPRIME,
I keep telling you it’s Y-O-U-R-E. Not your. What is wrong with you 19 year olds.
mental medication please for 23 name changer. Free donations readily accepted.
@Prime my friends call me Clem.
You can keep calling me lemons.
>>I keep telling you it’s Y-O-U-R-E. Not your. What is wrong with you 19 year olds.
Forgot an apostrophe there, professor.
Meanwhile, Kaepernick and Cosell have been scanning this board, wondering why the guy who’s kissing their asses can’t manage to get their names right.
ribico
No. For 23 whatever his name is today it is YOUR. Always screaming about. 34-0, them’s are fighting words to get mad about.
CowGIRLS getting trounced! I saw a dude wearing red Frank Gore jersey. Niner fans are everywhere.
We are the new “America’s Team”
Takes one to know one, Cletus.
Alex Smith is going to squander this team’s window at a Superbowl. He isn’t a strong leader, doesn’t have great field vision, doesn’t have accuracy beyond 15 yards, is afraid to go downfield and use all these expensive weapons we have, holds on to the ball too long at times, does not have the best feet for creating space for himself in the pocket, and seems to be content to be a low-risk, smart game manager. He is a backup QB in a league where only elite QBs win superbowls.
HE IS THE 21ST BEST QB IN THE LEAGUE AND COULD FALL FURTHER DOWN THE LIST THIS YEAR! These are the QBs that are better than Alex Smith.
The Trent Dilfer, Brad Johnson model doesn’t work in this NFL. Trent Dilfer won a decade ago. So what am I saying… I have no idea if Colin Kaepernick could become better than Alex Smith this year, but I’m hoping Kaepernick gets to start soon so we can see if he might be an upgrade. We’re not risking much at all at this point. Alex Smith is simply not good enough.
1. Aaron Rogers
2.Tom Brady
3. Drew Brees
4. Eli Manning
5. Matt Ryan
6. Joe Flacco
7. Peyton Manning
8. Matt Schaub
9. Ben Roethlisberger
10. Michael Vick
11. Philip Rivers
12. RGIII
13. Tony Romo
14. Jay Cutler
15. Cam Newton
16. Matt Stafford
17. Andy Dalton
18. Ryan Fitzpatrick
19. Andrew Luck
20. Sam Bradford
21. ALEX SMITH
22. Christian Ponder
23. Ryan Tannehill
24. Brandon Weeden
25. Josh Freeman
26. Blaine Gabbert
27. Kevin Kolb
28. Jake Locker
29. Carson Palmer
29. Russell Wilson
30. Mark Sanchez
Alan,
Amen. Sad but true. They will hate you for saying it. But at least we know it’s the truth. JH is a genius, he knows it too. That’s how Kap got on the field Sunday.
If Montana, Young or even Jeff Garcia were the QB of this team, they would NEVER have been pulled in the redzone for a running QB. Lol.
Sadly knowing AS’s mental makeup, this pressure will be too much for him. Harbaugh has got to know that as of this point the kid is going to go in the tank. Already has. Someone mentioned Smith has swag to his game the first two games. Last two games he’s looked nervous, indecisive, and lost.
Bay,
Did you read Cossell? pretty telling.
http://blog.sfgate.com/49ers/2012/10/01/how-does-sundays-offensive-creativity-reflect-on-alex-smith/
That’s because there was no wildcat 20 years ago when those guys played. It was unheard of to run any option out of the backfield. Another nice try Bayarea!
On the flip side, DeBerg was pulled fairly often as Walsh prepared his QB of the future.
No, I don’t think Kaep is anything close to Montana. I do think Harbaugh is copying Walsh’s method of training the future QB.
Jordan,
you are on fire bro lol. Yes I’ve read it. I actually feel sad for Smith. He reminds me of Rocky in Rocky III when he finds out that he was being protected by Mick and he really wasn’t as good as he was made to believe.
Since we committed to him for this year, I was hoping he could finish the year out. But if Smith isn’t even going to try to give us a chance to win, then we need to make a change. Even when he played decently the first two games I had reservations because he completely ignored his WR’s and the deepest part of the field. Lets see what type of “shrink” skills JH has now….
With all of the talk lately regarding Kaepernick and his future in SF, I decided to put together a piece about where he fits in, and how Harbaugh’s past suggests that a spread QB can fit in his system.
Please check it out at http://ninerchatter.blogspot.com/
Bay,
I don’t have time to feel sorry for Smith. Pittburg has 6 SB’s. I want us to get 7. We can’t get it with this inconsistency. I don’t have the patience to watch Harbaugh stroke this cats ego. That’s been done for years. You were at the game. Did you watch the Niner sideline on those overthrows? did you see how pumped they were when Kap scored.
More importantly than anything else. Do you see how much faster that entire offense is when Kap is in the game. I’m telling you bro. Get ready for Kap! HE IS WARMING UP!
Good stuff again Jack.
I demand full credit for the Schembechler link. (kidding)
Good piece, Jack. Thanks for that.
You really don’t watch MOnday Night football at all do you?
5 Int’s by Romo. That was AS 2011 total. 57 points (before garbage time points) are lowest point total in the NFL by an NFL offense. Jay Cutler is a time bomb. His moron play before the Romo moron play is just not acceptable.
2. There are 32 teams. You have 30. Maybe that explains the order/legitimacy of your list.
3. PM has stunk. He needed to play the Raiders to look good. Beating the Raiders should count as just 1/2 a win.
4. Your Top 4 guys, none of them have a winning record. AS does. May want to consider that in your calculations.
5. I’m sure those people who actually matter will consider your list and all advice one can conclude from it.
6. Why are you here? We won. What are you like after we lose?
Kevin kolb is 4-0. Here you go again spinning off the facts with OTHeR qb’s. those top qb’s that you’re talking about don’t have a better record than Alex smith? It’s because they don’t have the defense to carry them. So since they don’t have the defense smith does but still do their part and do it very well, then doesn’t that make the arguement that you have been pushing for years? QB’s don’t win the games? TEAMS do? Are you really going to sit here and say that if we didn’t have any of these top 3 we wouldn’t be undeafeted and rolling teams? Please.
Again bs you have NO stance in your arguement. Spinning off again and trying to bury the fact that smith is struggling and has NOT improved upon last season. Nice try. Now would be a good time to have onelame in here with you to call names and spin it off that way. Stay classy ds. Wheew!
I noticed a few names can be switched around on this list but even doing that, Alex Smith’s contribution to the team leaves him ranked at 21.
I don’t think Smith is Super Bowl calibur. That’s a fact he’s shown. I just think it’s too early for Kaepernick to be starting. You can bring Kaepernick in, but at this stage in the game, I think Kaepernick needs Smith to start.
Justin Smith told the team the window is small for a SB. Very small. The teams believes in Justin Smith. For that reason alone, I believe you’ll see much more of Kaepernick in the game. I was a little suprised we didn’t see him at the start of the 4th quarter when SF had the 4 score lead.
Agree. Kaep isn’t ready to start. Smith has severe limitations but he doesn’t turn the ball over which is good enough for wins when you have the 9ers run defense and rushing attack. Kaep will certainly suffer some growing pains and will turn the ball over much more than Smith. At least for this year, the 9ers need to stick with Smith. If Smith’s inability to generate a consistent passing attack starts costing the team wins then I would say Smith should be benched.
+1
HOU says “If Smith’s inability to generate a consistent passing attack starts costing the team wins then I would say Smith should be benched.
Like every player that plays the game HOU, if they dont do their job and it costs us wins, they all should be benched. This is why Alex is Harbaugh’s guy, cause he does what he wants him to do and thats manage the game, don’t turn it over, and take chances when necessary.
Why are people asking him to throw it deep and open it up if that’s not part of the game plan?
FDM
Just heard Roman on KNBR. Saying that AS did a good job with all the things that people don’t really notice from film. That the Niners offensive gameplan changed during the game given what the Jets defense was doing.
“Why are people asking him to throw it deep and open it up if that’s not part of the game plan?”
It was part of the game plan this week, and he performed that part of the plan miserably.
>>That’s a fact he’s shown.
A fact? Explain this fact in, you know, factual terms. Years 1 to 7, he wasn’t on a team that was Super Bowl calibur, the coaching barely professional calibur. Last year, he came within a botched ST play of getting to the Super Bowl, and this was with a brand new staff, a brand new system, no offseason, minimal training camp and a season-ending wide receiving corps newly promoted from the practice squad.
So tell us, cheerleader husband, what *facts* you have been shown?
>>The teams believes in Justin Smith
As the team voted him captain, the team believes in that other Smith too.
“The teams believes in Justin Smith”
So, that is the “chess” level thinking you bring that I don’t Matt? Are you the next Bill Walsh?
Ok. Hey. Let you in on a secret. Justin Smith is my favorite player.
Houston,
I’ll concede to you that Smith not turning the ball over is good enough for wins against some teams. However, do you think that’s gonna be good enough against the teams in our division and against quality opponents?
I say teams in our division because those teams know Smith’s game and have even more footage this year. I mention quality opponents like New England because we know they have the capability to move the football and score against our defense.
My concern is that we have the potential to win 12 games this year but that inconsistency is going to rear it’s ugly head just like it has for 2 games already this year. Can we survive a playoff game with that inconsistency? Can we even survive in this division with it?? I guess we all are about to find out.
Well DMF, if Harbaugh trusts Smith so much why was he pulled in the red zone? If Harbaugh trusts Smith so much why did Kaep replace him so often in the first half. If Harbaugh trusts Smith so much why did they run the clock down and settle for a field goal at the end of the first half? I realize players get benched when they don’t produce. I also realize that some commenters will attack other posters who are saying to leave Smith in as the starter just because of some perceived slight. The man is leading nearly the worst pass offense in the NFL and I’m saying he should remain the starter. Get over yourself DMF. Try to be less of an Alex fan and more of a 49er fan, DMF.
Jack how do you know that was part of the game plan?
Did they suddenly see that Alex could not throw the ball and said, well we better run it all game long. Or maybe it was because the Jets run defense was so bad that they decided to expose it?
Does anyone really think that if Harbaugh and Roman know Alex is limited in his ability to make plays downfield that they would have kept him around? They had a chance in free agency to upgrade. They had a chance in the offseason to get Kapernick ready. And they also had a chance to make a trade if they really were not comfortable or confident in him leading the team.
Some of you make it sound like Alex was the organizations only option. Like they had a gun to their heads saying, Alex is the only one. Thats absurd. Why go with a guy you know has “severe limitations” in his game and you have to restructure an offense to meet those limitations.
Please dont tell me they pursued Manning as an answer because if any of you were willing to give up Spillman, Brooks, Goldson, and Carlos Rodgers for one guy, you have no idea that losing that depth for an average QB now is a joke!
I coach for a living and if I know a players skillset is what it is and its not going to improve or I know he has reached his potential, then Im recruiting someone else. Its a business and I cannot afford to keep players around just because they are good guys. Its about winning and if he cannot help us win and limits my program, he is gone. Pretty sure its like that in professional sports.
Alex is winning within the system, you cannot underestimate how important that is.
houston
You seem to look to like the DMF (Dearest mom forever?) since you don’t know how to get FDM’s name right a single time in your post. He managed to get yours right.
If you can’t get his name right, why should we think you got anything else right in your post?
@23J… Alex should remain the starter and here’s my logic. Kaep will go through growing pains and he will turn the ball over. I’d rather not give teams like New England extra possessions. The Cards and Seahawks have great defenses so I could see Kaep getting playing time due to his scrambling ability but I still think Smith is better against those teams. If the 9ers will use VD in the passing game instead of leaving him in to block then the 9ers should beat both teams. If they leave him in to block then the 9ers will struggle to score points. Alex has an established relationship with VD that should be productive against those teams. You don’t know what Kaep will do with VD.
FDM,
Do you think that Roman, JH and Balke had a conversation about Manning and what he might cost the team before they went after him? Do you think they had another conversation about Manning when they were on his list of 3 teams? Do you think that if Manning had chose the Niners, they wouldn’t have found a creative way to sign him and still keep SOME of those players?
Personally, I think the only players that the Niners would’ve needed to keep would’ve been Goldson and Brooks. Get other players from the draft.
Smith was clearly not the only option, but once they lost the chance at Manning, Smith was the best option in their minds.
Love Smith or hate him, Smith has been inconsistent his entire career. His best season, last year, he did some good things. He was a good game manager. 195 yards a game and a TD a game avg and few ints are good average numbers. With this defense and special teams, it was enough to get us to the NFC championship game. Are those numbers going to be good enough this year? he’s on pace for those same numbers through a quarter of the season.
Smith is not effectively throwing deep. Until he does, other teams don’t feel as if he’s a threat. If the DB gets beat and Smith overthrows him, that’s a win for the defense. He’s not connecting and the defense doesn’t think he can connect.
I also coached for many years and all coaches maximize their roster in the best way they know how to accomplish wins. I don’t think any coach in the world could look at Alex Smith over the last 2 weeks and say he played up to expectations. His best stat last week was 0 Ints. That is nothing to be sneezed at but it’s not the same as actually producing in the passing game. Smith has not progressed this year under Harbaugh which leaves open the very legitimate question of “Has Alex Smith plateaued?” We have the rest of the season to find out.
Here are your answesr HOU and why the need to name call, is this really that frustrating for you?
HOU:if Harbaugh trusts Smith so much why was he pulled in the red zone?
A; The RZ offense has been horrible, why not try the element of surprise with Kap?Iif something is not working, try something else. Iits about winning and doing whatever it takes right?
H: If Harbaugh trusts Smith so much why did Kaep replace him so often in the first half.
A:They had a chance to score at the end of the first by going deep, why didnt they bring in KAP to throw it deep? Insted they played for a FG. This is the new 49er way. Limit risk, dont turn it over, play for another down, maybe get a field goal, limit the other teams possession. Chess son, not checkers!
You can degrade Smith all you want and try to pibnt out flaws in his game til the cows come home. This is who the Niers are now. Smith is the model employee. JH likes guys he coach and follow instructions, its almost robotic but the results sopeak volumes. Until the winning stops, then lets question JH, Roman, Smith, and the entire organization. But for now, 3-1 and looking forward to the Bills on Sunday.
Houston,
I’ll just say this. I don’t know where it is etched in stone that Kap will turn the ball over. Alex will turn the ball over as well. We all said at the start of this season that we at least expected Smith to have 10 turnovers thisyear because we expected him to throw more to all these new TOYS that we have.
Who is to say that Kap would turn it over anymore than that. We don’t know that. We are speculating about those turnovers from Kap.
We all know that Smith doesn’t turn the ball over because he won’t throw in tight windows. He also is late in making throws so he doesn’t make them. At what point do we realize that his caution is hurting the confidence of our receiving corps, especially crabtree.
So this conservative type of play will beat the Patriots? I don’t think so. I’ll ask you this, what play have you seen Smith make that you don’t think Kap can make? Kap is very close, and he’s getting closer. IMO, he’s going to play more and more every week as long as he continues to improve and earn time in practice.
One last thing Houston, you better believe those receivers want to see Kap get more playing time. They know he will give them a chance to make a play on the ball. He will have their support, Vernon will always back Smith, he and Smith have great chemistry.
@23j…. I’m just going on the very long history of 1st year starters. They make mistakes. It’s like death and taxes.
Looks like its question and answer period this morning, here it goes 23:
23: Do you think that Roman, JH and Balke had a conversation about Manning and what he might cost the team before they went after him?
FDM: Of course but once it was evident that Manning wanted 90 million and that the Niners would have had to shed about 10 million off their cap, that means there would have been no money to sign Goldson, Brooks long term, possibly Rodgers and Spillman. All key guys and losing guys which goes against the organizations mandate that its about the team.
The philosophy has been to build up depth on the roster, something the org. lacked in all those losing years. I doubt they wanted to give all that up for maybe 1-3 years with Peyton and no guarantee of winning anything with him and the loss of those essential guys.
Also keep in mind that Manning wanted to run his offense. Now do you think the Harbaugh was going to relent to that? I bet your left nut, no?
Jordan you and others keep saying that Smith cannot throw deep. Well then teams should exploit that and force him to beat them by throwing it downfield. Then maybe your opinion will come true and we lose games because of it and then Kap can start and hooray, you were right! But for now the Niners are getting it done their way, not your way, their way and they keep winning. So until teams exploit what you say Smith cannot do, I would rethink your opinion and predictions til they actually come true.
“Why go with a guy you know has “severe limitations” in his game and you have to restructure an offense to meet those limitations.”
You go with him because you are stuck in a lockout, have no other veteran QB options and by what you have seen on film of the defense you know you can get by if you make him into a decent player.
You also give him a contract to come back that allows you to move on to his predecessor whom you are developing with minimal cap ramifications when you are ready to make the switch.
Jack that is a poor explanation. Its the NFL, where winning means everyhting. Coaches and organization dont hope they can make him into a winner, they are professionals, they know he is or they know he isnt. They dont look to get by, what the hell does that mean. that they are buying team with a championship team til Kap is ready? That is weak.
After the lockout, they had so mnay opportunities to go out and get a new QB. They did not. Not because their hands were tied, not because there was no better option, only because they believe he is the right guy for their system. Of course there will be a successor, maybe its Kap, or maybe its not. Until the winning stops, speculation means zero.
Who were the better options than Smith FDM?
In Smith they had a guy they had convinced to come back and could get him a playbook, so that he could start on his own, and put the player run camp together. They could not have done that with someone who was not already in their building.
FDM,
When did they realize that manning wanted 90 Mil.? Manning never started talking $$$ until he chose a team. The Niners were in the running for him until he chose Denver. So you believe that if he had chosen the Niners, they would’ve declined his services because of the $$$$. I think both sides would’ve negotiated and came to an agreement.
As for Alex Smith throwing deep. You guys keep taking it to the extreme. I said he can’t throw deep effectively. I’m a Niner fan. I’ve seen all the TD’S to Vernon. He’s been overthrowing everyone else for the past 20 games. Especially Crabtree.
The giants beat us last year in the NFC championship game by stacking the box and testing Smith deep. Minnesota had 2 deep safeties but Smith didn’t exploit them in the 10-15 yard range where the openings are.
I think we can agree that he can’t throw into tight windows with any real success because he simply won’t take those chances. I will give you some plays tonite when I’m home where he missed Crabtree on at least 2 occasions where he he just didn’t think he could fit the ball in to him. Smiths safe play and our defense and special teams is enough to beat some teams. Can it win us a Super Bowl?? That is my issue?
CK was used for 3 plays when the game was still in question. Two runs and a pass. He wasn’t used again until the 4th qtr for mop up duties. Typically, there are FG runs where CK scored. I didn’t see more than one pass. Hardly an indictment of AS’s play. If CK starts playing more (not runs) and passing 5-10 times per game, then there may be something there. Until then, it’s hyperbole nothing more.
FDM,
One last thing. You seem to forget that the Niners did try and get someone else after the lockout. There went after Hasselback and he turned them down because he didn’t like the offensive line of the Niners. Remember?
23 looking back now would Hasselback been an upgrade over Smith, NOT. He didnt want to come to SF because he wanted to be declared the starter and did not want to compete for the job.
Now are you seriously bringing up the Giants game with WR’s who could not get open and everyone under the moon said so. This is why they upgrded the entire unit?
As for Manning, of course they talked money. And they talked scheme. he wanted too much and it would have cost the Niners too much in cash and turnign over their personnel to meet Manning’s offense.
FDM,
I’m sorry that you only see the throws that Smith makes. You’re missing the ones he’s not making, not even attempting.
Hasselback was an interesting option. I like his game. He is a vet. You have to remember, we would’ve asked him to run this offense, not the titans offense.
As for Manning running our offense, he would have run our offense , just like he’s running Denver’s offense now. He is not running his offense from Indy.
Remember, the Niners didn’t bow out of the running for Manning. He chose Denver, he called JH the day he chose Denver and thanked them for their interest and informed them that he chose Denver instead. That much we know about his decision for sure. That was confirmed.
A quick summary of how crazy fandom can be.
Smith starts the season with back to back quality games, with easy wins and high QB rating. Everybody – well almost everybody – is positive and it’s on to 3-0…except they run into a motivated and better than advertised Viking team and lose. All of a sudden, teams have caught up to this offense, Smith can’t throw it more than 10 yards, the blueprint has been written blah, blah, blah. Then they come back the following week and easily beat a Jet team that was 2-1 coming in, without making the passing game much of a factor and it turns into “they won with tricks they used out of desperation.”
Enough with the Jets suck and it was a nothing win garbage. The Jets were 2-1, had blown out the Bills and beat the Dolphins who nearly went into AZ and beat the Cards last week. This league changes quickly. You gameplan to win vs. the team you are playing that week. Getting caught up in individual gameplans and using it as a tool for anxiety over how they will play against a different team in a different week is a complete waste of time.
Football is about matchups and execution. If Harbaugh and Roman look at a road game in the Eastern time zone, against a team that doesn’t stop the run well, what exactly do you think the gameplan is going to be? It’s hard to win on the road, especially with a 10am pacific start. You want the easiest and lowest risk path to victory you can get, and they found it. 34-0 people. Who cares how they did it. What they did in this game does not carry over to the next and is not an indication of what they can do every week offensively. The Packer defense has looked pretty good since the Niners played them in week one, yet the Niners dominated them. That should tell you clearly that the gameplan changes it’s focus depending on the opponent, not that they can’t do anything in the passing game. They could line Davis up all over the place and throw to him 10 times a game and be successful if they wanted to, but you don’t because you become predictable and do things you don’t need to do to win a game. It’s like when the deep seam pass to Davis became a staple 3 years ago. It worked for a few games, but they did it multiple times a game and defenses caught on and took it away. You have to keep coming back with new wrinkles on top of your core offense or you stagnate and struggle on offense. The Niners do that as well as any team in this league and it’s not out of desperation. It’s a creative way to gain an advantage on the defense they are playing in a given week. I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but they are doing less Jumbo and shifting right now and it’s because they don’t want to be predictable. The shifts will come back, but they don’t need to pull them out every week. That’s Coaching and gameplanning 101.
All of a sudden we seem to have gone from Smith is playing well and looking confident, to he is incapable of doing what needs to be done and the Coaching staff is playing Kap because they’ve lost confidence in him. This is like the game you played as a kid where somebody would say something and tell the next person and it would get passed down the line, with the story changing a bit each time it was told to the point it resembled nothing like the orignal story by the time it reached the last person. Each week we have people focusing on something they determine to be a weakness and they build it up and believe it is broken and unfixable. In two weeks Smith’s perception has gone from improving and directing an effective offense; to that of somebody who looks shaky, and can’t throw the ball more than 15 yards downfield. This then leads to the great idea of starting a QB who is raw, has never started a game and thrown one pass that resulted in an incompletion.
We are 3-1 folks. They just won a game by 34 points that they pretty much mailed in half way through the 3rd quarter. The sky is not falling because the passing offense didn’t light things up. Smith threw the ball 8 times in the second half. There was no urgency or rhythm in the passing game because it was not used more than a handful of times.
I’m not at practice watching what’s going on, but it stands to reason that Kap is not ready to come in and run this offense the way Smith does. Contrary to popular belief, there is more to it than barking out signals, dropping back and either throwing it or running it. Kap is not ready to lead a SB contender to where it wants to go. They are giving him more and more exposure as the weeks go by which is smart and not trying to be something they’re not because people are obsessed with the passing game.
Enjoy every win, because they are hard to come by and any given week can result in a loss.
I am now stepping down from my soapbox.
23 what QB does not miss throws. I think your putting Smith under the micrscope too much on every single incompletion. He has missed Moss and Crabtree, but he has connected with Manningham and Vernon on some very nice deep throws. To me, its a wash cause he hits certain plays and others he misses, welcome to being an NFL QB.
We are 3-1, its not like Smith is holding us back. If anything, the playcalling and conservative game plans possibly are. The end of the day, did we win, yes, great, no, critisize all you want. Your point of contention is this style will limit us against the “good teams” and” playoffs”. Well, have we not beaten some good teams. Look at ATL, are they for real, who have they played? Every week presents a different challenge and our coaches are doing what they think is best to beat that particular team. Last week it was inserting Kap. Your speculation was that it was that the staff is nto happy wth Smith, really?
This staff is probably the best in the NFL. I highly doubt they go into a game plan thinking, how do we hide Smith’s ineffiencies? The NFL is too good of a league to just get by checking it down. Every team looks to take away what you do best and force you into things you dont do well. if Smith cant beat you deep, load the box and have at it. Why didnt the Jets do i?. The Vikes played coverage so for us to say he missed on certain plays and hit on others is irreleavant. The games take on a life of their own and you have tobe able to adapt. the Niners so far have been successful running and throwing it. its the teams that can exploit oneanother usually win.
Lastly, I cannot talk anymore about Manning, NFC Championship, Hasselback or whatver happened before JH arrived. Its time to look ahead. When its Kaepernicks time I will do the same and be his biggest supporter. But until they say otherwise, its Alex’s team.
As seen on twitter: “Tony Romo must have thought it was last Monday when interceptions counted as touchdowns”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! LOL!!! Noice, msc!!
On to next week. Bring on the Bills.
Just got back from New York last night so no time to read through 700 back and forths about AS.
The team put on a great performance and I’m glad I got to see it live. As I had predicted, the Jets are imploding. Santonio throwing the ball away when he got injured was one of the dumbest things I’d seen since the day before when a college QB(name escapes me) did it.
I expect to see a lot of the same offensive gameplan against the Bills who got run over by the Pats.
Sean, is the game being described here look like the game you saw in person? It sure doesn’t to me.
Rib, I was also at the game and I am not sure what happened to the TV feed from NY to the rest of the country but for people to say Alex was God awful is a little bit of lets say, an exaggeration.
They didnt throw the ball at all. It was run the ball down their throats! The deep pass to Manningham for 28 yards, no one has said anything about that and the other to Delanie was also a huge pick up. Both deep ,passes over 20 yrd, something Alex can’t do right?
Seriously, Kyle Wilson was grabbing at everyone at the LOS and could have been called for PI every single play. Cromartie is a solid corner and their secondary is pretty good. Bell was a stud in MIA, not sure why they got rid of him, I think money, and Landry also is a big safety that played fairly well. They never got tested really cause the running game was superb.
@ FDM
Nothing wrong with the feed to my t.v., we had a pretty good view of a shutout. It seems its all in the eyes of the beholders.
Rib, when Kaep scored that first TD, I pretty much knew what this blog was gonna be like. I rewatched the game when I got back last night and a couple of those throws down the sideline by AS were just missed. The score actually flattered the Jets. There really wasn’t a need to keep passing when they couldn’t stop the run.
Is the wildcat or whatever the Niner staff wanna call it something I like? No. I don’t think it’s something that can be consistantly successful but it was a part of a big win on Sunday.
The Kaep throw to Moss was far but into triple coverage and underthrown so I think they caught a break that it didn’t get intercepted.
All in all a very dominant win. My Jets fan buddy who I was there with called it embarrassing.
Also a big thanks to all in New York who made our stay cool. Met some nice people and had a great time.
Sean,
Did you know that the plays that Kap ran in the Jet game were part of the regular offense? JH said that Kap didn’t have a set group of plays. He said that he and Smith have the same playbook and that they all run the same plays. It’s clear to me that some of the plays that Kap ran, he may have ran them better than Smith could. That deep ball to Moss may have been into triple coverage but Smith can’t make that deep throw. Smith is not as athletic and is clearly not as fast as Kap. I think we can agree upon that.
>>Is the wildcat or whatever the Niner staff wanna call it something I like? No. I don’t think it’s something that can be consistantly successful but it was a part of a big win on Sunday.
Exactly, Sean. Coaches saw something for that game that led them to believe the Jets would be vulnerable. Likely because when the Jets defense works against the Tebowcat in practice, they only see the most rudimentary plays out of that package.
The only (very small) playcalling gripe I had was with that drive in the 4th that covered the length of the field, all rushing. Then on 2nd and one, and 3rd and one at the 22 they called pass plays that went inc and ended up with a FG. They were destroying the Jets with the run on that drive – why abandon it?
23welcher, HOU, and every other hater, your grasping at anything now to show that Smith has limitations when in reality he is the perfect type of QB for this system.
Get over the fact that this offense will never be explosive down field. Get over the fact that the Niners will never be like they were under Walsh. Get over the fact that this team does not meet your entertainment value.
You have the choice to look for a team that meets all your needs. Smith and the Niners are here to stay as long as he keeps winning. That is a fact, deal with it!
Jordan, I did read that comment from Harbaugh. So if Kaep is better at just heaving a ball deep and running the option than the reason Smith is in there for all the other plays must make him the better option to run this offense the majority of the time. I agree Kaep is more athletic, but Smith is a better QB. Do we agree on that?
Rib, I agree with you on them abandoning the run briefly there. The Jets couldn’t stop the run when they knew it was coming so why change. At that point they were beaten down. Only thing is maybe trying stuff that may be used down the line and getting some film on it.
Prime
JH was quite happy with the game Sunday. The people who are upset need to come to realize that this is how JH is going to coach. This is how our offense will look. This is what JH wanted. And this is what JH will keep.
If you don’t like it, find a different team. If we don’t have AS as a QB sometime soon, the QB will be asked to do the same things AS is doing. So only the names will change. Then we’ll find out if you hated AS, or the coaching philosophy that has us as the best team in the NFL since JH took over.
To me, that isn’t even a question to Ponder (ha ha) over. I was sick of losing. I love winning.
DS that is priceless! People forget that we were a losing franchise for over 8 years. Didn’t make the playoffs before last year since 2002, and now were instant superbowl comtenders. But one guy was the reason for all those losing seasons and now the same guy will prevent us from a superbowl, and as of Sunday winning games. Wow! A heavy burden to carry.
Forget everything inbetween, Alex ruined the 49ers organization and will continue to as long as he is here.
Well DS, thats what some claim, I’m not worried about it cause the games I watch I see the score in the 49ers favor more than the opposition. And if JH is not worried about it, neither am I.
One last thing I have to say. The SF media writes all these ballzy articles and then when it’s time to ask the hard questions to coach, they turtle away like the haters after a win. Very disappointing.
Sean,
Then you also heard JH say that Kap earned the playing time he got on Sunday. We don’t know if Smith is the better option now. We know that JH felt that Smith was the better option at the start of the season. What if Kap is closing the gap in practice. He clearly might be. He did earn playing time in the teams 4th game of the season. I think we can agree that Smith struggled in the Jet game. He didn’t play poorly, but he didn’t play well. He left a couple of TD ‘s out there. Grant said JH hates to see receivers overthrown for potential Td’s. I can’t say that Smith is the better option right now. I will know as Kap continuesnto get playing time and more of the playbook is given to him.
Jordan, if at some point JH makes a move to CK as the starter it doesn’t bother me like it would others or like it bothers some that he hasn’t made the move.
From what I saw, AS overthrew Crabs twice that would have been a long gains if not TDs. In my opinion, Manningham should’ve caught the one that hit his hand and Tukuafu would’ve had that short pass had Scott not grabbed him at the line. I don’t feel Smith had a bad game at all, just a couple misses. It happens to the best of them and with the running game rolling there was no need to throw the ball all over.
Daryl Johnston also mentioned that the option Smith ran deep in Jet territory that he pitched to Kyle Williams was executed perfectly, so there are things that CK does that AS can also do well.
As I stated above, I don’t think the wildcat can be successful and lead a team to a Super Bowl, but if a little bit here and there gets the team a win then who am I to whine and moan about it? Bottom line is a Niners win.
Problem is Sean,
Smith is leaving points on the field almost every week now. Two in this game, missed a wide open Randy Moss the week before, missed a wide open KW in the NFC Championship. You get my point.
Right now the decision that is being made is the best decision. Don’t throw CK to the wolves. Bring him in little by little. Pick and choose your spots to bring him in. By end of season he should be very battle tested. In the mean time maybe Alex kicks in and begins playing up to the organizations expectations. If not, time to move on.
>>Smith is leaving points on the field almost every week now
Every NFL QB does. If teams replaced their QBs using your criteria there would be a veritable revolving door of starters. And in the perennial doormat teams of the league, there is.
Sean, well stated balanced comment. AS needs to hit on some of those missed passes. He needs to put it in there and not worry about the INT. If they are too close, let the WR make a play – either fight for the ball and catch it, or knock it way to ensure it isn’t intercepted. I don’t like the run option because it takes away from bread and butter plays, but against the Jets it worked. Let’s see now if they go back to their core offense. If they can’t get their core plays in sync, then it will be an up and down year. Which team won the SB using run option? None.
I agree Bay, he needs to hit those. The Moss miss was especially bad, but I think every team leaves points on the field every week. Doesn’t make it right but it happens. I think if CK throws that deep one to Moss a second sooner he may have a shot at it but it really hung up there, kind of like a punt.
I just don’t feel he was terrible as some people are saying he was. Couple misses but a couple nice ones too. Manningham and Walker come to mind.
Fellow posters on this blog,
I must admit, you can’t be soft and last here on this blog. The guy Nolan singled me out. I never insulted the guy one time. I just disagreed with his position and he disagreed with mine. He told everyone that Greg Cossell said the Kaepernicks bomb to moss was a horrible pass. I, in turn, posted the article from Lynch to give the full story and not half of it. He really didn’t like that.
I agree with all of you who are saying Alex is at best an average QB. I think we would do much better having Alan’s number 13 QB; Tony Romo. I know he turns the ball over a lot, but that’s ok because he can throw the ball down the field and that’s what really matters. Hey I would take Cutler over Alex because man can he throw that ball! Some times he throws it to the wrong team, but who cares, it’s not about winning it’s about entertaining! Hey maybe Jeff George could make a comeback.
I think when Alex Smith made comments about how yards and stats don’t mean squat without the W he really should have directed those comments at Romo instead of Cam. Romo is a guy who can pass for 400 yards without even breaking a sweat but when the game is on the line I cant think of a worse QB to put in their.
With the game on the line I’d take Alex Smith over Tony Romo without thinking about it so you can post all the lists in the world that are based on stats because as far as I’m concerned they’re all as worthless as DS’s point of view on anything football related.
There are a few posters here who need to grow the eff up and stop calling each other schoolyard names. It’s annoying. But. As Msclemons points out, this is a football blog. People are going to disagree. For the most part, both Alex Smith’s rational ‘supporters’ and honest ‘detractors’ think he is effective in our system, it’s just a question of where his ceiling is. Go over to the Jets’ sites this week and see what they’re saying about the Dirty Sanchez right now. Look at what they are saying about Tony Blowmo in Big D. Go look at the despair and fear and loathing in Oakland. Go look at the angst and sniveling in the Big Easy. 49ers fans are passionate about their team. That’s the way it should be. For the most part, our fans are not as big a bunch of knuckleheads as a lot of others. Maybe someday we’ll get the ignore button. But even if we had it, you’d only need to use it on a couple of people. It could be worse.
What did we call those games last year where we knocked players out with our physicality (and not dirty play like the Saints) and they were gone for the remainder of the season? Killer games?
Now we’ve expanded that concept to entire teams. Beat the Saints. They haven’t won since. Beat the Lions. They haven’t won since. Beat the Packers. Well, they’ve won but look a shadow of their former selves. I’m fully expecting this trend to continue with the Jets. Loving it!
One of the biggest expectations over the summer was that AS would be much better in year two under Harbaugh. Also the fact that he went to a specialist to help him with his footwork seemed to contribute to a great 2012 season.
Here we are 4 games in and the questions about AS still persist. That in itself gives me pause.
AS is our starter, period. But I would have liked to see an improvement in his accuracy. The biggest target of blame (MC) is making almost catch thrown his way. The other complaint was that WR’ were not getting open or stretching the field. But AS has missed opened WR’ and has left TD’ on the field rather then the scoreboard (which he has admitted).
In Sunday’s game, I thought that CK came in to throw a long pass to R.Moss at the behest of Harbargh. But Harbaugh said during his presser that both AS and CK run the same plays in practice. Which leads me to believe that CK called the shot to Moss.
Why would CK make such a pass knowing RM would be tripled covered?
Is there some russling behind the scenes from the WR’ that AS is not throwing them the ball when they’re open deep and allowing them to make a play? The pass from CK certainly seemed to send a message on many levels.
CK’ RISKY throw to RM was the total antithesis of SAFE AS.
The season is a long one and there are many games to play.
But I was hopeing to see some improvement from AS over last year.
I hope for the teams sake he can show improvement over the last two games for starters.
I need AS to carry the team like he did against the Saints when the Defense is having an off-day like they did against the Vikes.
I believe that Harbaugh and Roman feels the same way.
It makes sense. Crabs is in a contract year isn’t he? They know he is special and they don’t want to lose him. No way he comes back here unless he an Alex straighten things out.
Trust me it’s not the system. For those of you that want to blame the system go look at Andrew Lucks numbers in year two and three and four.
Other way Crabs stays here is if they have a new QB that he believes in.
Bay,
Crabtree is under contract for next year, and there is also an option for 2014.
Bay, is it about numbers or wins?
FDM, did you really need to ask? You often have questioned me responding to those with an Agenda. Let’s hope AS plays like he did the 1st two games and they start targeting VD more. Good times.
Hof I just want to know whats more important to those seeking a change at the QB position?
If indeed Kap can come in, spark this offense, revolutionize the passing game and get wins, where do I buy a KAP jersey?
However, the formula, actually the current formula under question is still working. We are talking like it is not and that a style preferred more to entertain, has now become the way to win in today’s NFL. I have yet to see this.
The standard of a good team, good system, good players in the NFL is evaluated by wins and losses. Not passing yards, not 3rd conversions, not individual numbers, rather W’s.
People highlighting that this sputtering offense will eventaully lead to the Niners demise are forgetting that each week presents a unique game plan, specific to the opponnent. The “sputtering” pass offense missed on less than 3 downfield attempts. Why the over analysis when the analysis should focus on what a great job the offensive line did and what all the rushers did in accumalatng the astronomical rushing yards. Insted we are focusing on something that was not even given a chance to sputter. Really we are talking about 3 missed attempts on a game plan that featured exploiting the Jets poor run defense.
So again, my question, what is more important, wins or numbers?
FDM, I understand.
Another interesting theory is that they may be showcasing CK. RRyan was supposedly interested in drafting CK if the 9ers didn’t scoop him up. I don’t think they needed that play/TD from CK to win the game. Obviously the Jets are having QB problems. Maybe something in the works there??!
Hof, maybe a swap for Sanchez since according to some he’s better than AS. He sure looked good on Sunday.
FDM- For players and coaches…wins… for fans, wins as well, but some people want ‘shiny stuff’ with their wins. If we keep our current pace of scoring 26 and giving up 16.2, I think we will be just fine.
This will piss off a few, even though it’s only for comparison. The 89′ Niners, one of the best teams ever, scored 27.6 and gave up 15.8. Just to show, it AIN’T THAT BAD around here.
Sean, LOL! I still believe (Grant alluded to this yesterday as well) that the 9ers wanted to draft ADalton. We’ll never know. JH is all about turnovers, and the starting athletic QBs to date lead in giveaways. Interesting!!
Hof you might be onto something with the trade thing, especially in another conference. I like Kap and he might be the future but for all his skill set maybe he is best suited for an open passing attacking type offense. Im not sure Harbaugh likes to play it that way, and not sure Baalke likes to draft it that way. This defense is still very young except for Cowboy but it will be a dominating defense for years if they can lock up T. Brown, Bowman, and Goldson while trying to find a replacement for J. Smith.
Some have mentioned that the Ravens are now a more open passing attack. Its still will go thru Rice like it does with Gore. We just need to be better on winning on 1st and 2nd down cause we have not benn giving oursleves a chance at 3rd and manegeable.
I think it was you that said, throw more on 1st down as opposed to waiting for 3rd down. This CK thing might have been something to motivate Alex as well so I am expecting a big game from him against the Bills.
I’m not getting how CK won’t be a good in the same offense (more or less) than the one we are running right now FDM/hof.
Trent and Jim drafted CK. They knew what he did. There were other QB’s around (I’m sure) to be drafted. Why do you feel we got CK? Nobody forced us to get him.
It’s about wins first and foremost. But it’s also about big picture. Winning SB.
I’m going to answer your question with a question. Do you think the coaching staff had high hope for AS to grow and now is potentially becoming disappointed with him?
Hofer brought up the fact that bringing in CK smelled of desperation. Guess what, I agree. We have a multitude of weapons and they are being ignored by our QB. Especially in the red zone. The only time we score in the red zone is on a gadget play that leaves a player wide open.
I think one of the posters had it right. I think AS even changes plays to running plays because of his conservative nature. Harbaugh sees this, knows he needs points, in comes Kaepernick. Why else bring a player with ZERO NFL EXPERIENCE in to handle a critical play in a close game on the road? In the Red Zone of all places? I won’t answer that, it doesn’t require an answer because its obvious.
So for those of you that think CK is trade bait lol think again. You are going to trade your most dynamic player. And you will leave yourself with a player that you are quickly losing faith in because he can’t orchestrate points in the red zone? Brilliant theory.
Bay, agree to a point. If the 9ers need to bring in CK to run for a 6 yd TD, I’m not so sure that is an indictment of the passing offense especially given the running plays GR calls in the RZ including weeks 1 and 2 this year. The 9ers would have won the game without the CK TD. Keeping it in perspective, if CK starts throwing more, then there may be something to it. Otherwise, it is more hyperbole and agenda based.
Good stat, Bray
@ Bay “Do you think the coaching staff had high hope for AS to grow and now is potentially becoming disappointed with him?
So they tailored the game plan to exploit the Jets poor run defense because they know Alex cannot get it done passing, or because they knew this was the best way to beat the Jets? That is a no brainer.
Bay says ” Hofer brought up the fact that bringing in CK smelled of desperation. Guess what, I agree. We have a multitude of weapons and they are being ignored by our QB.
If Alex is choosing the wrong plays and ignoring the open weopons, he will get benched soon enough. This gets answered over the next two games if its true Bay.
Bay although Kap is an exceptional talent, we dont know if he is the future. I think this get determined in the offseason. Benching Alex now, like you have said is a bad idea. Kap could come in and lead us to the promise land or he could come in a lead us to nowhere. That will all depend on if we start losing or if Alex does not follow the coaches instructions and changes the plays to quell his confidence. I dont see that happening.
If the NFL is stupid, then we should have CK in every red zone possession and run him in. I somehow doubt most teams will fail so horribly to make a tackle.
Barrows said CK had great blocks from everybody on that play, and I agree. That won’t happen all the time though, and if you are running a player, I’d prefer it to be our RB’s. KH is just as fast and can block/catch better than CK can. Plus, I bet the likelihood of a RB fumbling the ball, doing something stupid is a lot lower than it is for a QB who has logged in fewer than 30 plays.
Jack Hammer says:
October 1, 2012 at 9:44 pm
“With all of the talk lately regarding Kaepernick and his future in SF, I decided to put together a piece about where he fits in, and how Harbaugh’s past suggests that a spread QB can fit in his system.”
@Hammer
Are you suggesting that there is a secret “Area 51″ at 4949 Centennial Blvd? (lol).
Have you had a chance to read Matt Maiocco’ article regarding CK7?
He said that out of 11 snaps CK7 ran a 17 yrd option, scored a 7 yrd TD, and could have easily scored again if not for a class slide at the end of the game.
Maiocco says that CK7 provided a spark to the offense.
So here’s my question to you: Now that Harbaugh and Roman know what CK7 brings to the offense, where do they go from here?
Please check it out at http://ninerchatter.blogspot.com/
Hoferfan67 says:
October 2, 2012 at 12:08 pm
FDM, I understand.
“Another interesting theory is that they may be showcasing CK. RRyan was supposedly interested in drafting CK if the 9ers didn’t scoop him up. I don’t think they needed that play/TD from CK to win the game. Obviously the Jets are having QB problems. Maybe something in the works there??!”
@Hofe
Hofe, do you really think it’s in the Orgs best interest to trade CK7 after some of the inconsistency shown by AS over the last two games?
Who do we rely on if something were to happen to AS?
Is Tolzien ready to take over?
Do we trade CK for another QB, because we will definitely need one.
CK7 is here to stay, period!
Even you said that CK was a better idea than P.Manning during the ‘secret courtship’ by the Org last spring (lol).
I would think that after a good showing by CK on Sunday that the 49er Faithful would be excited about our future. But there seems to be some discontent over his performance.
What’s up with that Hofe?
AES, I hear you and good points. My question to you is why only one pass if that is the issue here with the offense? CK’s touches involved running not passing! FG wasn’t getting big yardage on 1st and 2nd down especially in the 1st qtr. Now if CK comes in and throws it 3+ times, you may be on to something. One deep pass into coverage and multiple runs isn’t a change of direction for passing offense or the starting QB. TBD.
It could be that after the forced pass to R.Moss Harbaugh made it clear not to throw.
There’s no denying that CK7 is far from a finished product at QB. But there’s also no denying that he gave the slumbering offense a nice spark on Sunday as well.
May sense is that we don’t know if CK can become that 75 – 80% completion type QB, but he is still very young and like AS, was limited to a full training camp in 2011 because of the lock-out.
He deserves every opportunity given AS to see if he can become the QB Harbaugh and Roman invisioned when they hand-picked him in the draft.
A good showing? We already knew he could run, now we need to see him lead a 10 play drive when the game is not out of reach.
Prime
It could have been a lot worse (fumbles the ball on that TD run). I don’t know if it was a good showing. But it certainly wasn’t a poor showing.
DS94everXev says:
October 2, 2012 at 12:39 pm
“I’m not getting how CK won’t be a good in the same offense (more or less) than the one we are running right now FDM/hof.
Trent and Jim drafted CK. They knew what he did. There were other QB’s around (I’m sure) to be drafted. Why do you feel we got CK? Nobody forced us to get him.”
@DS
Absolutely “on point” here DS.
I feel that we may have a great player for the future in CK. There are still many areas in the passing game he needs to develop, but who best to learn under than Harbaugh?
The A.Dalton talk falls in the same catagory as the P.Manning talk. No solid grounds of proof, and all water under the bridge now.
Harbaugh and Roman got the man they wanted in CK7. Why would they want to trade a player that they hand-picked, and is showing signs of being a game changer?
I personally don’t think the Org trades CK especially knowing that once he develops his passing they may have something special.
Prime Time says:
October 2, 2012 at 12:48 pm
A good showing? We already knew he could run, now we need to see him lead a 10 play drive when the game is not out of reach.
DS94everXev says:
October 2, 2012 at 1:07 pm
Prime
It could have been a lot worse (fumbles the ball on that TD run). I don’t know if it was a good showing. But it certainly wasn’t a poor showing.
@Prime/DS
Guys, the coach that you’ve sworn allegience too (“In Harbaugh I Trust”) called CK’ performance “Dynamic.”
That certainly is a far cry from the low grades you two are giving (lol).
I said throughout summer that I was “All In” (with all 49er players).
I’m happy for CK7′ “dynamic” performance.
You guys said you were all in as well. This would be a good time to prove it!
AES if clapping my hands over a couple of runs and a 50 yard incompletion is what you need to prove my fandom, sure you got it pal.
This whole coming out party, the future QB, good showing, dynamic performance is a little premature for me. I like the kid but like I said when he can come in and lead a 10 play drive in a tight game, that’s when we know he has arrived.
As for the low grade you said I gave, I did not give a grade, don’t put words in my mouth or try to be a sh$t disturber.
If AES is talking about what JH said about CK, then he must accept what he said about AS last year being a Pro Bowl QB and this year as an expert of the offense.
CK may be dynamic. But you don’t replace a Pro Bowl expert with dynamic. Of course, AES dismisses what JH said about AS, so this post is going to deaf ears/blinded eyes.
I believe it all. And AS is still the starter.
Prime Time says:September 30, 2012 at 6:32 pm
“We are proven and legit, the Cards have a lot more to prove.
Alex wins another!”
@Prime
Well Prime, you did not officially mention grades, but this comment to Hofe certainly gives strong evidence as to how you felt about Sunady’s game (lol).
There is no mention here of CK7, the Defense having good performances.
Not trying to start anything, I won’t waste anymore time with childs play.