SAN FRANCISCO — The 49ers tied the Rams 24-24. Here are the grades for the 49ers defense.
Defensive line: D. Isaac Sopoaga was a liability at nose tackle. He actually got planted on his back by Steven Jackson in the first quarter. Sopoaga was briefly benched for Ricky Jean Francois. Ray McDonald was flagged for a 15-yard helmet-to-helmet hit on Bradford. Justin Smith finished with eight tackles and two pressures. He’s still playing at a high level – especially against the run – but he is not the same great player he was last season. That’s obvious.
Linebackers: C+. Patrick Willis did not play up to his usual high standard. He only recorded seven tackles, and he was pushed back a few times by Rams running back Steven Jackson. Also, Willis was flagged for a defensive holding penalty. NaVorro Bowman played better – he had 13 tackles. Aldon Smith played very well – he had two sacks, two pressures and three tackles for losses. Ahmad Brooks batted three passes down at the line of scrimmage. The front seven collectively let the Rams rush for 159 yards on 37 carries. That’s 4.3 yards per carry. That’s not what you expect from this front seven.
Secondary: D. The safeties played pretty well – Dashon Goldson finished with seven tackles and Donte Whitner finished with five. Chris Culliver allowed his first TD reception of the season. He tried to jam Brian Quick at the line of scrimmage and slipped. Tarell Brown gave up a few receptions, but he had the strongest game of the 49ers cornerbacks. Carlos Rogers absolutely could not keep up with Danny Amendola. Amendola beat him both in the slot and deep down the sideline. Last season, Rogers was a Pro Bowler and one of the best defenders on the 49ers. Right now, he’s one of their weakest links.
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Carlos Rodgers struggles with quick wr in the slot victor Cruz, Danny amendola.
Carlos was at least on the TV screen. Culliver was in another timeline on the first Ram TD to start the game. He was thrown to the ground in bump and run.
Well, it worked. The Ram WR bumped Culliver down and ran free for a TD.
Bump ‘n run.
Got tons of buddies in other football markets (Greenbay, NY, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta) who all watched a fair amount of this game and let me know they’re hoping Harbaugh keeps Kaepernick on the bench. They also said it must feel nice to have an obviously elite QB ready to go.
Sure thing pal!
Not sure how they did that when this games wasn’t broadcast in those markets.
Do you live under a rock Ribico?
No, I’m out of market and have watch crappy internet streams of Niners games when not on national broadcast. I’m having a hard time fans in NY and Dallas are going to be searching out a 49ers games while the home teams are playing.
Maybe we’re from a different age group. Mine all have NFL package and ties to the Bay Area, and know about the Niners history, both distant and recent. They recognize a dangerous QB when they see one, and nobody thinks Alex is dangerous. Kaepernick scares them all, along with this D.
I agree with your friends. I think Kap gives the team the best chance to win going forward. Alex has heart, but is limited physically.at the end of the day Harbaugh and Roman are running out of ways it hide his many weaknesses.
I think you must have a concussion.
If Kaep is “obviously elite”, our coaching staff must be “obviously incompetent” by starting such a limited qb as Smith.
Or…..you have no idea what you’re talking about, and are advertising your idiocy with each post you make?
I’ll go with the second option there….
Are you concussed?
Prime
For 23, that is an improvement.
What loser calls themselves concussed but one of the lead haters?
Neal or 23 but possibly Bayarealunatic?
I have one profile Prime Axel, unlike you Grant can check that only one profile comes with my IP number.
And look who answers? Sure thing 23!
I just find it interesting to hear from other teams’ fans about our little QB situation.
chargersfan and who dat (Saints fan) respect AS a lot.
The 49ers never adjusted to Amendola. It seemed like he was in single coverage the entire game.
They couldn’t stop the run, so they had to leave 1-1 coverage a lot of the time.
Good point. Still frustrating.
The defense is better than this. Laying an egg like this is disappointing.
so MOnday night against the Bears will feature either to concussed QB’s or two back ups….who wins?
The bears. The defense is there, the offense is still a few years out.
Only defensive players in my opinion who deserves a positive grade are Brooks, whitner and Aldon. Everyone else looked like they were not giving usual effort. DBs looked pathetic. Rogers couldn’t cover amendola to save his life and culliver gave up the first TD and a horrible play.
Whitner whiffed on the Pettis touchdown. He didn’t even bother to cover.
I thought that was bowmans fault. Regardless the defense on the final drive in regulation was absolutely pathetic. So sad.
Looks like it might be the Concussion Bowl next week in Chicago.
Neanderthal says Kaep is “obviously elite”. Well, shame on those idiots that coach and manage out team, eh Neanderthal? He did well all in all, but let’s not get carried away. He’s got some serious problems he needs to work on too. I’d say Vernon got it right, B+.
Chilo Rachal next weak…
Weak is right. Thank heavens we don’t have him.
the Defense better start focusing now on stopping Brandon marshall and the Bears running attack of Forte and Bush. They seem to do well against deep threat WRs like megatron, marshall, and fitzgerald, so hopefully that will get locked down. The running game will be tough.
This loss hangs completely on the shoulders of the defense. They gave up 14 quick points. The offense kept coming back but the defense ended up giving up 10 more points including the win when they gave up an unprecedented second fake punt first down. The offense wasn’t pretty but they did their part as far as I’m concerned and had the game won before that second fake punt.
Fangio deserves to take some serious heat for this but the players need to answer for such a dreadful performance. What was Sopoaga’s problem? Why couldn’t anybody freaking get their head on the correct side and actually wrap up when making a bloody tackle? Carlos Rogers is looking like a one season wonder at this point, do we draft a CB in the top three rounds next year?
Yes on a new CB. Rogers really can’t hang with the small quick guys, always gets faked out, and it’s a glaring weakness that I’m sure other teams will look to expose. I like the guy, but he’s not the same guy this year.
Did anyone else notice Fangio replaced Rogers with Brown at nickelback halfway through the game?
They switched on and off the whole game.
That’s a first under Fangio.
They know Rogers is struggling and are trying to find an answer.
His inability to cover the slot is killing them on 3rd down, because it allows the ball to come out quick and takes away the pass rush.
The Rams also motioned Jackson to wide receiver to take Willis away from the Amendola and the middle of the field. It was pretty clever.
Amendola is the engine for the Rams offense. Forget their overall record, they are 3-2-1 when he plays.
Who is better: Amendola or Crabtree?
Grant, not sure if it should be who is better but who is more important to their respective team. That would be Amendola. I think the better receiver is Crabtree.
That’s an awesome question. Maybe Crabtree owes his Biletnikof trophies and salary to Amendola…
Good question Grant.
There two very different WR’s. Amendola has a penchent for getting open and making the highligh catch.
Crabtree has the ability to catch any ball in his area and has become quite the YAC WR.
I ask you this; Would Crabtree’ number be much better with Bradford as his QB?
*They are two (whew, spelling has sucked today).