This is the live blog for overtime of the 49ers Week 13 game against the Rams in St. Louis. I’ll update this frequently with information and analysis from my living room
1:00 The 49ers lose the toss. The Rams will receive the ball first in overtime.
1:05 Bradford hits Givens on the left sideline for the a 16-yard gain. Next play, Jackson bounces outside for 17 yards, but the Rams are flagged for holding. First and 20.
1:07 On third and 15, Jackson drops a screen pass, and the Rams will have to punt. The punt bounces out of bounds at the SF 20.
1:09 First play, Vernon Davis lines up at left wide receiver and Kaepernick hits him on a quick hitch. Davis breaks a tackle and gains 9 yards. That play should be there every time, but it’s the first time Roman has called the play.
1:12 Roman calls one of his play action shot plays and Daniel Kilgore is flagged for holding. First and 20 from their 25.
1:12 Kaepernick throws a back shoulder throw to Moss who never turns, just keeps running straight. Second and 20.
1:13 Kaepernick kills the play, then let’s it roll, then calls timeout. The 49ers have no more timeouts.
1:14 Roman calls a zone read to Gore, who gains 1 yard up the middle. Are you serious?
1:15 Kaepernick hits Moss on a quick screen, and he goes down right away. Fourth and 12.
1:15 Make that fourth and 17. Tramaine Brock false starts.
1:16 Pettis returns Lee’s 60-yard punt to the Rams 27 yard line.
1:19 On third and four, Bradford throws a three-yard pass to Brian Quick. The Rams shank a punt. 49ers ball at their 50 yard line. Big break for the 49ers.
1:20 Gore up the middle for five yards on first down.
1:21 Jacobs up the middle for two yards on second down. Third and three.
1:21 Jenkins lines up a mile away from Moss, and Kaepernick hits him for an easy 6-yard completion.
1:23 Roman calls back-to-back Gore runs that go for four net yards. Too conservative.
1:23 On third and six, Roman calls a one-read roll-to-the-left pass. No one is open and Kaepernick throws the ball away. Clearly, Roman settled for the 51-yard field goal attempt.
1:24 Akers hooks it right. Who didn’t see that coming? Greg Roman, apparently. No excuse for him taking his foot off the gas pedal when the offense got to the Rams’ 33 yard line.
1:25 Jackson gains three yards on first down and four yards on second down. Third and three at the Rams 48.
1:26 Bradford hits Givens on a quick slant for a six-yard gain. Brown was beaten on the play.
1:27 Next play, Jackson gains nine yards up the middle. Second and 1 at the SF 37. Zuerlein has the leg strength to hit a field goal from this field position.
1:31 Jackson loses two yards on second and 1, and on third and three, Jackson runs up the middle an inch short of the first down.
1:34 Zuerlein easily makes the 54-yard field goal. Rams win 16-13.
49ers RSS feed
Loading ...
Why do we lose these coin tosses all the time? And why keep going with heads if it ones not work lol
I said tails. But gore always calls stupid heads.
This team has our number for some odd reason
Sounds like an excuse
Yep rams
Turnover please.
Grant set up overtime blog fellas……Escape out of 4th qtr blog.
Now can they go back to the regular defense instead of that prevent crap
We needed Alex out there to win the coin toss! Lol. He’s such a wuss! He didn’t even go out there. Probably couldn’t find his helmet. Someone tell him you don’t need it for the coin toss next time!
Kap hid AS’s helmet.
let the col-excuses roll!
/badpitch
No excuses. That was a bad pitch.
Unlike Alex, I don’t think Colin will get 7 years of excuses. If he keeps sucking he’ll be gone.
MSClem
DW dropped a TD
Officials literally didn’t know the grounding rule, told H he couldn’t challenge it
Kaep had some nice passes, didn’t play too badly, but this offense looked horrible. And not the execution. The players are doing fine. It’s becoming obvious that H values ball security over aggression.
Does that mean this offense has to be so static, no matter the talents of the guy playing QB?
If they’re going to continue to call such a conservative game, they should actually stick with Alex and trade Colin. He will have enormous trade value.
So, Harbaugh, we the fans are asking of ourselves, “who’s got it better than us” to which we say “us, in the 80s and 90s.”
Actually, listen, H, if you want to continue being conservative to a fault, give us back the $5m and we’ll see if you can’t get Sing back in here.
Game over
Called that hold. I’m shocked the refs did
Ovine on DDDD!! You just caught a break, now hold em!!!
Penalty on rams thank god.
Jackson lookin beastly on that run.
Gotta send some pressure here.
Way to go D
49ers 8-16 on 3rd down. How did that happen?
This is pathetic.
2 OT’s against the worse team in our division with CK playing 9 of 10 quarters.
Yeah. Better than AS.
yep
Yeah, cuz Alex is such an offensive force.
yeah…and so is Kap.hahahah
Niners are in a tough game and all you care about is Kaep/Smith. Pathetic.
You’ve not been reading the other 90% of the posts here?
He is. Nice of you to finally notice.
“The Cardinals are the worst team in the division. And don’t you forget it.” –Cardinals quarterbacks
Bitter Smithers rooting against the 49ers.
Is anyone surprised?
I would expect a comment like that out of you DS. You know, the kind with no thought put into it? Ive seen bad O-line play, bad play calls, mistakes, dropped passes, no run game and Dropped TDs. But that all on CK huh?
BS, take it up with JH, since you know so much about QB’s you villiage idiot.
Worst team in our division? Really? They’re undefeated. Facts escape you.
Lets see cap in crunch time
Damn VD, I forgot you were on the team.
yeah..so did Kap
We Got this. Cream always rises to the top!
And sometimes it curdles too.
Missed VD
Didn’t matter since the freaking o-line holds again!
What’s the over/under on how many times Grant will try and blame Kaepernicks poor play on Roman in his grades tonight.
i think hes already at 20
Its gonna happen, count on it!
FN Holding
Terrible throw. If he dont throw it 100mph its not close!
Great FG is hurt.
Miss a wide open VD why don’t you.
Missed a wide open Moss for TD earlier. Threw it to MM
How many holding penalties?
This is going to be hilarious if it ends in a tie again.
Somehow, I won’t be in a laughing mood.
Not in sync. Geez.
This loss will be on Kaep. Period.
The game aint over yet. Period.
Win, lose or draw, We learned what we all knew!
That you don’t lose your job to injury!
Actually disagree.
CK looks as he did much of pre-season. THIS is ALL ON JH.
Maybe, but Kap has bigger shoulders then AS. AS would have folded under the Rams pressure two quarters ago.
Concentrate AES. Can you just keep the topic on what actually happened in real life, not some fantasy world? OK?
Yep
+2
Playcalling is just wonderful!
Sick of these second down handoffs
Terrible
Use both TO’s in one drive with plenty of time left. And gets us a 3rd and 19.
Heis the future. Meaning not the present.
agree
Really, who was he holding there?
False start on a punt???
How many penalties have both teams committed today? We had the same problem against the Saints!
Game
Hey haters, 3rd and 12, why throw a 5 yard pass?
No excuse. We’re not supporting that. You must be thinking about the Smithers like yourself.
Cause that’s how Roman designed the play! Don;t you know anything, PT?
I’m not sure what some of you people are watching but this last couple of weeks has been the worst offensive showing I’ve seen in 2 years. But hey, as long as we got that laser arm, we’re good! Go Niners!
Yeah, we need Alex in there!!! NOT ever again!!
Youre not a niner fan if you hate that bad! Its obvious dude!
Montana,
And once again you know more that the coach. Good job.
Montana women, your such a dope if you think this game was all on CK.
G ro sucks!!
can we get a turnover please….i’m afraid offense won’t win this for us today, D gotta bail us out….
Ok D we need a turnover and a score.
Hang in one more time DDDD!!
If harbaugh can’t trust Kaep 100% to throw out of the shotgun EVERY down when it is 1st and 20- then Kaep shouldn’t be the QB.
I was hoping that Kaep would play with a more wide open offense- using the rookies Jenkins and James- I was wrong.
If this is how the niners will play- conservative runs up the middle and short slants- then go with Alex Smith. Please.
The niners are holding firm on their pattern!!
Great game!
Great game!
Lay a n egg!
Praying they can fight past this one.
Chicago and Seattle are tied in Overtime at 17-17. Seattle in the redzone….
Moss watch
Good call!
Granted Kaep is having a decent game with some mistakes but Grant is right, these playcalls are simply ridiculous
Here’s are turn over. Kaep do something!
Or “our”. Damn
Lets get the 3 and get the hell out of here.
alright, we have this now!
Not sure why Roman thinks handing it off to Jacobs is going to work here.
Throw the ball!!!
Umm, he’s protecting his QB
/Cosell
big play
If CK can’t get a score here.. I don’t know.
BS,
You’ve never known!!!
Lol
First Down!
Thank you!!!
Someone told me the other day that Alex Smith plays not to lose. I don’t see them Playing to Win without Alex in there. Pick it up Coaches!
We are getting too conservative again
I think you go naked bootleg with CK ought here. Fake handoff to Gore
Called it moss
MVP of the Game…Rams’ D Coordinator. Keep playing off coverage against the slants. I could make those throws.
MVP for the Niners…assuming we win.
These play calls make me sick- this game is awful
Cmon exploit the moss-jenkins matchup
holy crap
not again
gonna be another tie ..
Akers!!!!!!
Akers missed it! NO F*ckin way
I knew 2-2 was too good to be true
Wow I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. SMH…
Lots of blame to go around this game.
I don’t even blame Akers….that was a dismal setup drive.
Akers gone
I said it three weeks ago jokingly: we need a real kicker. Not joking this time.
Yes it is what it is
Grant – I agree Roman’s playcalls aren’t always sound, but the horse is dead.
Kap takes you down field for winning kick and Akers chokes again!
Down the field? Pfft. He got the ball at the 50.
So it was a 67 yarder? Smithers kill me.
Oh jeez.
Why don’t they ever put akers in the middle of the field?
Big win by Seattle on the road @Chicago.
Yup
Seattle knows how to call plays. Their offensive coodinator did a much better job than Roman has today in overtime.
can’t trust Akers any more……if Roman and Kap can’t make this a TD scoring team we may be in trouble…..
Karma Harbaugh, the football Gods are pointing at you!
+1
taking glee in this? you guys really are smithers. you only pull for the team if alex is in there. you would make a great seachickens fan. lol wow..
Your pathetic monkey boy. Like we always knew – an Alex Smith fan first and foremost. If you dislike JH and the team’s decision that much, go find another team
Why are we assuming a 52 yarder is a chip shot. Throw the Damn ball!
I hope to god that Roman finds a new job after the season/
Great, LEGATRON warming up.
Quit playing for FIELD GOALS!
How many does Akers need to miss before you realize he isn’t good from outside 40.
they could help akers by putting him in the center of the field instead of the hash.
Surprised by Akers misses. Might need to call up Neil Rackers or Nate Kaeding….
Seattle won! And we’re experimenting at the qb position. Holy Crap!!!
Yes, in order to give us a “competitive advantage.”
turnover will be our only chance…..
We got the ball at the 50 and ended going for a 51 yd FG….what a joke.
If Smith were playing he would have missed from 55.
Game over
Exact same situation as last game! We can only lose or time. We can’t play any worse against the Rams!
Roman, Delanie and Akers….. wow
Delusional.
Screw you and your Smith avatar Rib
Hey, I hate this just as much as you.
Defensive?
Delusional how?
Yep Roman Delanie and Akers.
You missed one, your boy did not execute either.
Don’t forget that D that gave up 5 points.
lol!
Kap been a little off a few times and the oline has been getting pushed back in pass protection which is surprising. ugly game.
If our team loses without giving up a defensive TD…….
Then we didn’t score enough points!
This CK hot hand crap comes to an end. How does JH react now?
He’s screwed. JH screwed this game up. And it may very well come back to haunt us.
CK can’t beat a good D! He can’t even beat the worse team in our division in 2 tries!
AS is laughing and crying inside. That is what you get for upetting the Football Gods. You don’t give up on AS after a cucussion. The Football Gods exacted their revenge on us today.
DS
Stop the hate. Your boy AS is not going to play again barring injury. CK put the team in a position to win. Akers failed to deliver.
Nick
17 points against the worse D in the NFL. Then another 10 against the worse in our division isn’t good. And if AS was taken out for this guy, he needs to do better. And AS did better. CK isn’t even equaling AS. How many sacks today? That safety in the endzone was all on him. He could have put his foot into the ground and not given up another yard. Instead he ran backwards and put himself into a position for the refs to make a bad call.
That isn’t managing the game. That is losing the game.
70% of the job is to manage the game. This game proves that. We are superior in every way to the Rams. We didn’t give up any points to them on the defensive side till the OT FG! The D pitched a shut out for crying out loud.
Now you are telling me that the fault lies with our kicker!? Give me a break. That lies on the offense (AKA CK).
Its on the Offense.
If Smith had QBed a loss where the D only gave up 5 points?
Man-o-man.
It’s what I said all week ribico
CK only got 2 TD’s against the worse D on the planet. He only managd 1 against the worse D in our division.
The Rams are the first team to see him twice. And they made the adjustments. They are also a sub 0.500 team. I assure you the playoff teams will make the adjustments.
CK had 1 good game. The Bears. He is now 1/4 in playing great games. That isn’t any better than AS. In fact it is worse.
The sample size is growing a bit. Unfortunately.
I believe CK is still our guy. The superman talk has to end though.
ribico
Superman lost a few battles. But the world believed in him.
JH needs to flat out come out and say who the starter is. That is where the screw up really is. CK isn’t hot. So AS must be the starter…till he loses. Then CK would be hotter, so you go back to him?
That isn’t showing faith in a guy. That is destroying both QB’s. Not helping either. It is hurting this team. Frank Gore needs a Super Bowl to get into the HOF where he belongs, and this stupid BS of not naming a starter isn’t getting us any better any quicker.
Damn. I hate this.
I think Fischer goes for the big play here. I see trick pass coming. He plays to win.
a sack here would be great
Tough call here for Fischer.
Let’s not try to blame Akers, Kap, Walker, Ginn, etc. It wasn’t one play that lost this one, it is just the entire lack-luster offensive performance, something has to change and not sure what…..just like before for games like this we simply blamed Smith.
Now i’m not sure what the main problem is? But when Gore can’t seem to get it going that may be the root of it…..
Our kicker did it again!
Kicker? Wheres all them points you said we were gonna score with superman back there?
Sorry 23, but I don’t think so…there are any number of plays that you could look at and say the gaem was lost there…..Walker short-arming the potential TD pass from Kaepernick….Kaepernick and the ill advised toss to Ginn deep in 9er territory…Akers miss…not to mention that the Rams front seven pretty much controlled the line of scrimmage today….too many guilty parties today. A complete team loss. IMHO
55,
There were a ton of mistakes. But the kicker had a chance to beat the Rams , twice. He missed twice. He gets paid to make those. It’s the only job he has. If he can’t make field goals, he needs a new job.
23j
He was 2 for 3. He did not miss twice.
@23,
Agree with the fact that he gets paid to make FG’s…but, the coaching staff also get’s paid to put the team in position to win games…something I think they didn’t do very well today.
Thanks Akers
Akers? Where have you been all week? With RoboKap, we were suppose to score about 40 points!
Andrew Luck is kind of amazing
Our defense gives up six points in five quarters and we lose!!!!!!
Karma!
That’s exactly what seahawks, rams, cardinals, packers fans and niner haters would say….you Smithers cult members fit in perfectly with that crowd. cheers to you! lol
Look, Kap has tremendous physical skills, skills that Alex can never touch. But like any other young QB, he needs to learn to read defenses,make good decisions- Even Rodgers sat for 3 years. Was rooting for Niners to win all the way.
The only thing that I had an issue with is the hasty coronation by the coach and the Alex haters here.
What will Grant so with his predictions and rating? He will blame Roman, Walker, Staley, Akers and the refs, and give Kap an A-
QB controversy over! In my opinion!
True.
Yes, CK to remain starter the rest of the season.
Exactly.
49ers defense gave up a total of 6 points and we lost. Awesome
7 actually.
oops. 8.
No.
CK was sacked in the endzone. And a horrible CK toss resulted in another 8 points.
Our D was perfect. gave the Rams just as many points as he managed to score for us. That SUCKS!
Ugly loss, no other way to put it.
“Prediction: The 49ers will blow out the Rams. The 49ers are going to absolutely handle the Rams in St. Louis on Sunday.”
unbelievable…just unbelievable
The better Coaching and kicker won,Akers needs to go.
yes sir
He’s here to stay. It’s was from 50 yards.
The golden child cost us this game
He also threw a perfect TD pass to Walker that Walker dropped. Akers had a chance to win it, again, and couldn’t.
Kaepernick sucks, amd Harbaugh does too.
take it easy…good teams lose games..New England lost to Arizona..remember?
Loss on Kaep. Compleltely and totally. He is not ready. Couldn’t out up many points on the Aints (again the WORST D in the NFL). And today he scores more points for the Rams than their QB did. He might be the future (and I think he is) but it is the present. He SUCKED today.
Look forward to seeing him next week. He will still be starting.
Terrible play calling on offense and a kicker that sucks this year cost us this game not Kaepernick
Get real. Kaepernick gave the Rams 10 points.
So far he isn’t any better than Smith. Might be time to see what Tolzien can do.
If CK runs out of bounds right before the 49ers kicked the field goal, Rams lose time on the clock, maybe can’t get the tying field goal. The bad pitch to Ginn. Bad call by the refs on the safety, but CK should not have made that bad call possible. 3 big mistakes.
he made some big mistakes, but the option play should have never been called in that situation. That was a terrible play call. The running out of bounds? I would like to see how many other players would have stayed in bounds, it is probably 50/50. Greg Roman lost this game, they didn’t challenge the Rams defense enough. They were also missing Kendall Hunter today big time today. Akers takes close second to Greg Roman in who takes the hit for the loss.
As far as you thinking Kaepernick isn’t any better than Smith. That comment is laughable at best.
Delay walker dropped the game. Period. Kep didn’t play great but once again, just like against the rams before, he played well enough to win. Thanks D. Walker and Akers!
Walker did’nt make that horrible pitch…just face it..Kap was’nt the answer today…you’ll get over it
>>Walker did’nt make that horrible pitch…
Or run 15 yards backwards into the endzone before an iffy throw it away
Say what you will about AS and the way he takes sacks, at lease he doesn’t run backwards to avoid the rush, leading to a play like this one.
I’m sorry but Colin sucked big time today outside of his runs he was just bad. horrible game
Plenty of blame to go around today.
Roman – gotta stop playing for field goals, and terrible call for option
Akers – terrible from outside 40 all year and continues today
Walker – drop by goalline and holding on next play
Kaepernick – what was up with that pitch?
O line – pressure almost all game long…
So Jack, does this answer your question – how are teams going to plan against Kaep?
Jack
I thought only AS depended on FG’s to win games If CK is so great, how come he hasn’t managed a TD in 2 straight OT games in OT. With the pressure on?
Ribico,
Not quite
DS,
Did Smith play today? Anyway, I have never said only Smith plays for FG’s.
Like I and others said all week, once teams have enough film on Kap, he will be a different QB. He is gonna be good, but it was not the time to make a switch.
You cannot go back to Alex now. You told the team that Kap gives us the best chance to win it all. You ride it out but it does not look good when you lose to the lowly Rams and the blueprint has been made to beat Kap.
This was the game to see what he was all about. We did. A bad safety and a worse fumble. Then he had how many chances in OT to lead them tona win where someone said “legends are made”. Pfffff!!!!!!
I know Prime
I echoed your sentiments. But not many car to hear them because they are obsessed with finding fault with AS instead of the guy who is playing.
AS had faults and won 19 out of 24 times. CK has faults and has 2 wins, 1 loss and 1 tie. This loss is on JH. He got too excited after the Bears game. The film on how to beat CK is there. I told Jack this week, just do what the Saints did. And to me at first glance it seemed they did. Except they are a better D, so they did it better.
Seattle and AZ are better than the Rams on D as well. This was the weakest team in our division. Maybe CK does fine outside of our division, but you can’t be a good team if you can’t win your division games. And CK hasn’t won one yet after two tries.
I wish JH had announced CK the starter though. Or AS. Let the world know that you have confidence in A GUY. Now, with this “hot hand’ BS it forces the change, or makes you a liar. Stupid way to go about it Jim.
Tough loss and the pattern of laying an egg every third game continues.
Right, amazing.
Gonna be a long week and unlikely they catch the Falcons for first seed now. The bigger issue will be stringing together more than 2 wins in a row to keep the Seahawks at bay.
Who to blame now if Smith didn’t play? Did he stand there too sad and bring the rest of the team’s mood down causing them to lose? It must have been the distraction by the way he held his helmet on the sidelines, either way, somehow this must be on Alex, losses don’t feel right unless they’re blamed on him.
This one’s on Greg Roman and Mike Solari/O-line. Kap put Niners in position to win and Akers choked again.
bring on the excuses!
Oh, they are coming. Fast and furious.
At least Williams wasn’t out there fumbing PRs. He’s off the hook.
I’ve been dealing with a downed tree from 5:30am this morning. Uuuggghh!
As for the 9ers, terrible loss – 3rd game syndrome!!
Let’s see how the writers handle this press conference. If they don’t get after the play calling lat in the 4th and OT…
Especially the call that allowed the Rams to tie the game. Horrible risk-taking there.
Jack, Grant and I’ve mentioned the play calling all year long! You dismissed it until now. Hmm!!
Agree Hofer, play calling was horrific!
Crab, I need to see the whole game. I was digging my back yard up from a fallen tree. Damn. What a storm – both outside and on TV!!
Roman turtled up the offense as the game got late and akers miss hurt but kap really needed to get a td on that drive where he had that big scramble. 49er and Rams Defense played their @sses off.
Jack, as usual for the 49ers, it was the play of the quarterback that sunk the team.
It’s been the story for the last 10 years.
thank the football gods we are blessed to have a great defense though
Clem – Kap had clutch 50 yard run to win game and coaches played it safe.
In overtime coaches played it safe and relied on a shaky Akers to win game. Kap would’ve of won it, if given the chance.
Crab, I’ve had to listen to 7 years of excuses for Alex. I’m not interested in excuses for Kaepernick.
I’m tired of excuses. I just want to have a good quarterback.
CK7 sucked today. We may as well have had Alex in there.
There should be no excuses: CK was chosen because he was supposed to be better than AS, therefore he needs to be held to at least the same standard, if not a higher one.
Let’s be clear, the coaches so not trust any QB. They do not let the QB win the game, they just want them not to lose it.
As you all know..I predicted this loss on pappa Lowell’s blog. Man,signs are there you just have to read them. And I knew dropping my sweet and sour pork on the floor was bad news..it was 49er red.
The 3rd game jinx again.
Damn it!!and the hawks won!!!and Green Bay!!!Damn it
CK IN THE LAST 8 QUARTERS:
3 TD’S
FUTURE MY ASS
At least the Smithers are happy today.
How could anyone be happy about a loss?
REALLY!!??!!THE DAMN TEAM LOST IDIOT
No one is happy you fricking moron! We lost because we went with potential instead of consistency! This was a bad decision because now teams have enough film to game plan. The unknown factor is done. Fisher figured out how to beat Kap. Now what happens against Carrrol and Belichick? They are gonna make Kap look even more confused!
Hot hand my rump! Explosiveness my foot! Blow out my nuts! Costly loss today!
Prime
I had a post this week about how you can’t defend agaisnt consistent (AS). But you can agaisnt excitement (CK).
Most here think I lost that debate juding by their replies. Well, most are wrong in the end.
In Harbaugh I trust BS, we know that AS is your freaking pathetic savior, You are truly a hater and the villiage IDIOT, your such a moron.!!
just shut up Neal…
Stop being a hater randy, is DS your sister?
You think Smith future is in SF? lmao
Glad to see the Smith fans gloat about the team losing. It proved what a lot of folks suspected, that his supporters really came to identify with him more than the team.
Offense played crappy today. Roman stunk, no deep threat without Williams, and Gore wore out as the game progressed.
Kaep miscues resulted in 10 points, but that last one was a play Roman shouldn’t have called. Kaep made alot of great third down throws and had that big run. He’s still starting.
Congrats to the Rams for out playing the Niners.
Gloat? Hell no. This is a sucky loss.
But let’s not absolve anyone for this loss. Least of the all the player who directly contributed 10 points to the other team.
are you ok?This has nothing to do with Smith,Smithers,Kap,etc…the team lost..not Smith,Kap..
Foam,
He’ll of a post. Best here all day, and absolutely true and correct. RoboKap will be back.
Help us out and go take their seat
Grant
HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN ASK JH:
“WHO HAS THE HOT HAND NOW? WHO IS THE STARTER FOR NEXT WEEK?” AND YOU KEEP AT HIM TILL HE THROWS UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Coaches played not to lose. Fisher clearly outcoached them.
You could see by the end of the first quarter we were having trouble running up the middle. We stayed with the conservative play calling and inside running and sat on a paltry lead, then called a dangerous pitch play deep in our own end. Then even after it was tied we refused to adjust for the poor game by the O-line. Just not an intelligently called game by GR and Harbaugh. A very strong defensive effort for most of the game gets flushed down the toilet. Kap actually converted about 50% on third down, but we played very poorly on the earlier downs, and it was not enough. Gore had one run for 23 yards… and 22 more carries for just 25 yards. You can’t win wasting downs like that.
Nothing else to add. 1st and 20 and we still try to run in the middle… when it didn’t work all match long? Seriously !
Grumpy,
You the man. Great post!
This loss is on the entire offense. The safety and fumble hurt but so did the missed TD and other dropped passes. The Smithers will pull out their predictable CK attacks though. The Rams defense doesn’t get enough credit too. They shut our run game down.
they make no secret of their disdain for Alex…
You can’t blame Greg Roman for the triple option read that led to the pitch over Ted Ginn’s head. That is the type of play the Niners call with Kaepernick in the game; it is something Kap is comfortable with from Nevada, and which the Niners include in their gameplan for Kap (if you’re going to blame the triple option, then you have to blame having a quarterback that plays to the triple option, but the last thing we need is more back and forth about the starting quarterback from the Haters and the Smithers). Time to regroup (regardless of starting quarterback), and concentrate on the Patriots. Not in an easy game at Gillette Stadium, and against the team playing the best in the NFL right now.
Need to concentrate on the Dolphins first as they are in San Fran next weekend.
You’re right Sean. I dropped that one myself earlier.
Miami next week.
Oops…Dolphins next. Making the mistake of looking ahead…
That’s ok, Pot. Since we’re looking ahead, the third game jinx next falls in Seattle. Unfortunate.
Alex managing the game would have won this game easily.
Fark. I am not happy.
CK not to blame, he did what he could and those mistakes are expected. It’s all on JH on why did it have to happen now in the middle of a SB run.
Let the Kapexcuses begin. We’re are not haters. We know he is the future. We argued that the time was not now. We were right! Too much is at stake to be throwing a young qb in there like this. You Smith haters were just too happy to see the reality! So go smoke this one all week! The blame will be dished out everywhere to protect there boy, but the truth is, is that most said superman would throw up alot of points. The excuses will be exactly what smith went thru. Bad coaching, dropped passes, poor officiating. Bottom line is we lost! And the Jets just killed these guys!
Montana
This game never should have been remotely close. The Rams never crossed the 50 till the end of the first half.
The entire half was played on their side of field and all we got was 7 points!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For crying out loud, that sucked. Our D doesn’t give up a TD, but CK managed to give them one. And it all lies on JH.
AS in this game…..wins it. By at least 10 points. And it isn’t ever that close. The haters come here to cry about how he isn’t exciting as we remain undefeated in our division. Now we are way behind other teams in the NFC.
>>AS in this game…..wins it. By at least 10 points
I gotta be consistent and call BS, DS. These hypotheticals are all completely baseless. Lets keep our discussion centered on activities in the real world.
ribico
No. AS gets more than 7 points in that first half. AS doesn’t take that Safety. He takes the sack outside of the endzone never risking to run it back in there. That was beyond stupid. That was 2 points. The Rams first 2 points of the game.
AS doesn’t make a toss like that. He is calm and cool. CK is exciting. Well, exciting in critical moments gets your blood going, and you lose your precision. That toss was horrible. That lead to the Rams other 8 points in regulation.
I bet the Rams don’t score at all. We shut them out. CK’s mishaps are directly tied to all 10 Rams points. And that one drive for a TD, AS can get that. He did it last year against them. He did this year against them and he couldn’t even see right.
Do you think AS makes those same stupid mistakes?
I want Alex back, please!!! Lol Bwahahaha!!!!! NEVER!
Montana,
Just like one great game by CK7 should not have put him in the stratosphere, one subpar game should not bury him.
I felt that CK (though subpar) put us in position to win today. He needs to suck it up and come back, but even though he was not great today, he certainly was far from bad.
CK did mess up with that lateral, but I’m more disappointed in the play calling. Too many Gore up the middles runs. Roman (and perhaps Harbaugh too) was playing not to lose, rather than to win. Even I figured out that Akers would probably miss that last one. They should have pushed for more yards first and been more aggressive. Roman gets a mulligan. I think they also missed Kendall Hunter speed today, wonder why James wasn’t used.
I missed the game. Was it a blowout like the Cohns predicted?
Yep, unfolded just like they said.
Yeah, Grant hit the nail right on the head today…..hope he doesn’t plan on quitting this job to go into economic forecasting…
I’ll review the tape like I always do, and no thanks to Redzone for showing so little of the game.
As of right now, like I said before today, the real test for CK in this offense is seeing how he does against a better defense.
I didn’t see anything in todays game that says CK is leaps and bounds above Smith (SO FAR). JH has to leave him in now, since that was his decision, but the QB contraversy is FAR FROM OVER. Right now, in a shootout with Brady we lose for sure with CK, but probably with AS too.
This NEW offense doesn’t help our chances for a superbowl SO FAR.
CK lovers and Smith Haters can STFU until further playtime with CK.
Oh, and that top 4 QB question, no way you put CK above Luck, Newton, and RG3 as of right now.
you are so correct sir
This one is one the offense, not sure if the QB position is settled after this egg.
Another happy Smither.
Again, CK lover, STFU. Don’t ever label me you prick.
I’m not happy at all with a loss. At the end of the day, I want wins, especially against a bad defense on paper.
I said already in other posts that CK has a higher ceiling and Im all for him playing if he will perform better than our current option. Today I believe he played worse than our current other option.
If Smith had today’s performance you and all your BFF CK lovers would be calling for a public hanging of Smith.
I want the best option at the helm. CK didn’t do anything to prove he is the best option today. That means TODAY.
I want to see the replacement QB play better than the former QB. That didn’t happen today.
A better toolset doesn’t make you a better mechanic.
Rams kickers with last names starting with ‘Z’ kill us every time.
My fear was messing with the chemistry. I’ll need to watch the whole game, but not good.
lol. Your only fear was smith losing his job leading to his probable exit out of s.f. in the off season. Chemistry had nothing to do with this loss. Was chemistry a factor in the two wins vs. chicago and the saints? Keep dreaming king smither you show you true colors every week.
Hofer,
I see you agenda has been discovered by neutral real Niner fans. Sorry, nice try.
Ninersnation very well said. Hofer is a fraud!
The couching staff lost this game hands down no if and or butts , they get a solid F-
In a tough and hard fought game, you cannot leave potential scores on the field.
D.Walk should have had the game winner. Akers is in a funk so bad that he may not be on thre flight to N.E. Harbaugh needs to find someone with the ‘hot foot.’
Before the AS vs CK tug-o-war begins, this loss had nothing to do with either of them.
I still think CK starts next week, but nothing is guaranteed in Harbaugh’ world.
loss had nothing to do with Kap?WTF?
It seems CK gave the Rams 10 pts??!
yes he did!
He also gave us a chance to get 10 points back.
TD muff by D.Walk, put Akers in position to make a FG.
CK made two bad plays today. The high pitch to TGJr, and missing a wide open VD going across the field that could have netted a 1st down.
CK did not have his best game, but AS would have lost this game in regulation because he would not have withstood the Rams pressure.
Smith also would not have gifted them two points with the safety. He would have seen the rush coming and played it smart: take the sack outside of the endzone. As much as AS gets killed on this blog for taking sacks, at least he understands the time and place, and the endzone is not the time or place to run backwards to avoid the rush.
AES,
The bad pass to Vernon would’ve come back on a holding penalty anyway. One of 50 of them it seemed.
i still think ck should start next week, dont think you can switch back to smith now, but how can you say it had nothing to do with him. playing calling was bad as usual, thats nothing new, but ck gave away 10 pts, the saftey and the fumble
So where’s your Golden God now? The Rams totally had Kaepernick’s number. Nice run and a couple of nice passes that resulted in nothing.
All of the Rams scores were the result of Kaepernick’s mistakes.
SF Gate’s Niner Insider Blog had this to say:
http://blog.sfgate.com/49ers/2012/12/02/alex-smith-probably-would-not-have-made-the-mistakes-leading-to-rams-scores/
Any analysis by Kevin Lynch should be taken with a grain of salt. And a couple of Vicodin. He is not exactly the best reporter on the 49er beat for any kind of penetrative thinking.
Gore had one run for 23 yards… and 22 more carries for just 25 yards. You can’t win wasting downs like that. Our inability to run was what this game turned on. This team does not play well with ANYONE at QB, when Gore cannot get his yards.
Lynch was a “hater” last week. Now he’s a respected source.
Go figure.
Kevin seems like a nice guy; I just think he is kind of mediocre as a reporter and writer.
I really do not believe today was about Kap or Smith. Neither would have won, IMHO. Not with Frank Gore averaging one yard a carry the last four quarters. That is not a formula that wins for us.
Kap did well in the throwing and running part of the QBing game but he showed to be a first time starter in the NFL and his laclk of experience and a couple huge mistakes gave the game to the Rams.
!st he threw that ball over Ginn’s head on that pitch play(that should not have been called in that situation ). Ginn should have fallen on the ball or knocked it out of bounds instead of trying to pick it up. But the fact remains that Kap is at fault for his lack of execution on that play.
Then late in the 4th Qtr Kap showed his lack of experience when he failed to stay in bounds on the good run he had to set up what would have been the game winning FG.The Rams would have needed to use their last time out there and they would never have had enough time to tie the game.
Still ,Akers had a good chance to win the game,just like the last Ram’s game,but he failed his team once again.
So,although Kap looks like a great passer and runner,he didn’t play the position like a vet,as he had in the last 3 weeks,he let the team down today.(not to mention Roman’s play calling had me scratching my head all day long!).
The defense played great but couldn’t get a turnover.But they played well enough to win,if the offense had not let them down.
IMHO Kap lost the game for the team today and they MAY have won it with alex in there?
But I was delighted with Kap’s accuracy once again,he was right on the numbers and if Walker had caught that perfect pass late in the 4th,the game would have been over,right off the hands,perfect pass. But being the most accurate passer I have seen on the Niners for a decade is not good enough when you make too many rookie type mistakes in a tight game.
Kudos to Jeff Fisher and his game plan for his defense ! Roman had no answer.
Has Greg Roman been fired yet?
Very disappointing. A good game by the defense and just pathetic display by offense. I won’t freak over this loss but Harbaugh you got a little ahead of yourself. And roman has to get these guys to get plays off on time.
Here are my grades.
Defense a B
Special team a F
CK a C
Coaching a F
Offense a C
Make it a D
A C. Or a “D” Are you freaking kidding me!
People said you don’t know anything about football Neal. But this proves it for sure.
CK gets a ZZZ -. This game was handed to him time and time again, and he couldn’t put it away. He couldn’t get a TD on the long drive. He couldn’t make a play when it mattered. He couldn’t avoid not having to depend on a Field Goal.
You said he could from a small sample size. I told you that sample size was too small to say so. Well, guess what hot shot? You don’t know.
easy DS. The kid did exactly what was expected which was to play like a rookie as the season goes along, it was those that put him that position that deserves blame.
He should play better but can’t blame the kid on lack of experience.
I said I won’t be easy at all. If you replace a guy mid-season, you need to be better (not even as good) than him NOW.
If not, then the team suffers. AS wins this game. Easily.
And I’m not blaming CK. I’m blaming JH. He put CK in this spot. I said all week that CK is being put in a bad spot. This was going to happen because it happens to every QB. Whether they ever become great or they suck. This happens.
Except this shouldn’t happen on a team with Super Bowl dreams. That lies on the HC 100% for that move. I’m not mad at CK. I’m mad at JH.
Defense gets an A – they gave up no TDs.
Really a C?
more unnecessary penalties, more slow communication of plays, dropped balls, more Gore till he runs down again – for what exactly?
running to the sidelines for a miracle play!!!
i don’t get it.
The offense has regressed, we are too careful because of the QB.
As someone said earlier on the bog “Kap welcome to AS world” damn frustrating isnt it.
+1
Could you imagine if #11 played today with these results? This blog would be on fire!! Now it is only DA’s fault. Can’t give up 10 pts and only blame the FG kicker.
Hof, CK didnot play well but we still should of won, blame Akers and DW.
true.
It still is on fire Hofer….bad loss today.
The QB is the leader of the offense. When the offense sucks the QB gets the blame.
For 7 years the offense sucked with Alex and he got the blame. Today the offense sucked and CK7 gets the blame.
Hopefully we won’t have 7 years of excuses for Kaepernick. If he continues to suck the team should move on.
Roman’s name has come up in connection to the Cal job. If he leaves, his loss may not be too big of a deal should he leave.
Please leave Roman, and take Akers with you, he is done as a NFL field goal kicker.
Neal, a 51 yd fg is not a chip shot. DA will take the blame for the loss because he is a character guy, but that’s not an easy FG.
Hof, a 51 yard field goal indoors should not be missed.
Hofer,
The rookie on the other side hit 2 from 50+. They need to take a hard look at Akers and their insistence on relying on him late in games.
The kicker has struggled the last 3 games. He might be injured an you expect him to hit a 50 yarder? That’s on JH to go for that. But clowns like Neal want to blame Roman and Akers.
The game was in hand before Kap gift wraps a TD with that toss. But before that the safety was even worse. A classic case of inexperience showing up trying to do too much. You don’t think those situations come up in the playoffs? If you guys think he is gonna race to 57 yard scrambles in the playoffs, keep dreaming!
We all know Akers is not reliable this year. So do our coaches. No excuse for the conservative play calling to put it all on him.
We did well throwing the ball today, 21 of 32 and 11 first downs. And poorly running. Yet we kept trying to run with the game in the balance. Take away Gore’s one long run in the first quarter, and he averaged 1 yard per carry on the other 22.
Didn’t you get excited seeing CK throwing it for 0 yards downfield time and time again Nick?
Maybe next time, you will listen up. 14 points against the worse D in the NFL isn’t someting to be happy about. Now against an actual defense (weakest in the division) he got half that. Not TD’s by the D, and he lost.
Roman called a fine game. CK is the one who didn’t choose to stay in bounds late in the 4th. Had he done so, maybe the Rams don’t move down-field because they have to use a TO there. See what a QB who isn’t a game manager does? What that gets you? A LOSS!
CK has gotten the best effort a defense can give him the past 2 weeks against teams which are below 0.500 and he hasn’t produced a damn thing worth talking about. You were obsessed with getting rid of AS, that you were blinded to the fact that he really messed up a lot in both games.
DS is ecstatic today.
Nick,
So has Vic Fangio’s name…’9er coaches are popular.
I can’t believe this team hasn’t won three games in a row this year. They have to get used to being the hunted. The NFC West is one of the best divisions in football.
Maybe they’re saving the three wins in a row for the playoffs? Providing they get a bye, of course.
21/32 208 yards, no TDs.
But no INTs either!
SBono believes AS starts next week. I don’t think so.
Steve Bono,
Oh that’s right, our new head coach!!! Give it up dude. You should be exhausted. Alex isn’t coming back Hofer. Get counseling if you need it. Try calling Bono!
That botched pitch should count as an interception.
It was a mental miscue, for sure. the snap was terrible, and Ck should have just kept the ball, and run it himself. Or just fall on the stupid thing and reload for the next play. Once he tried to make something out of nothing, the die was cast. Bad snap, bad decision and pitch by Kap, bad play on the loose ball by Ginn. But above all, a stupid play call deep in your own end. Save pitch plays for the other end of the field. The short routes in front of Janoris Jenkins were open all day long. We did not use that enough.
a fumble and safety = 8 points.
This falls on Delanie Walker dropping an easy TD that ices this game if he makes grab. Great trick play call, wide open.
Rams get pumped up to play us like no other
Steve Bonehead think that AS will start nex week. Sigh!!
Neal,
Do you have to bad mouth everybody that has an opinion different from yours? I forgot, by the numerous ‘bitch about Alex Smith’ posts you’ve put up here, comparitively, Steve Bono has no clue… oh, save your fingers, I already know that you could give a rats ass about anything I say with regard to your asinine posts.
Neal
What did Steve Bono do to you?
Really, cut it out. If you want to name call, wait till somebody calls you a name. Or maybe, just maybe, actually meet them/converse with them first.
DS,
It’s so much easier for Neal to spew his drivel on the keyboard rather than in person…see, if he does it here, he has somewhat of a captured audience….most people read his garbage and excuse it as typical Neal.
55 wanna be,
I hope you and DS have a lovely life together, you sound like husband and wife, or is it two husbands or is DS your groom or bride. Who the hells knows.
9ers have to concentrate on getting to the playoffs. They seem to have lost the focus…
Our D didn’t lose focus. They dominated.
JH lost focus. That is what happened.
my biggest three problems with the game:
#3 Greg Roman calling the play action to the left on 3rd and 3 which was right into the strength of numbers for the rams defense when Kaep is one of the fastest players on the team
#2 Kaep running out of bounds right before Akers’ field goal and stopping the clock
#1 to the Max…. is the terrible call by the ref on the Safety because that was not pass interference since Kaep had clearly left the pocket, and because the line of scrimmage extends out of bounds, which is a line that Kaep’s ball CLEARLY crossed. TERRIBLE lack of knowledge of the rules. Intentional grounding has SOME interpretation, but its simple, if the ball gets past the line of scrimmage, EVEN IF IT IS OUT OF BOUNDS, ITS NOT INTENTIONAL GROUNDING. LEARN THE RULES REF.. Had to throw that last one in there in Honor of Jim Schwartz, since I’m sure I would make some mistakes too, but it just sucks that a bad call by a ref AGAIN puts points on the board in error for an NFL team.
Looking at the numbers, it seems CK was more a running QB today than a passing QB. I’ll need to see all of the plays before making judgement.
That is usually a good thing to do Hofer, LoL.
He had a big 50 yard scramble, and there were a couple of called runs mixed in there too.
He didn’t play too bad, but the bad pitch is inexcusable.
21-32-208 is not really that bad, seeing as how we ran the ball ineffectively all day. If GR calls a smarter game, we would have won today. And you should never pitch the ball backwards inside your own 40. That’s asking for Murphy to pull out the sandpaper and bend you over.
The best stat is a “W” ! Ask Alex!
Eli would agree.
They took away the long ball and he completed 65.6% of his passes with the most attempts he has had this year. He consistently makes very good throws and has during all of his starts. The pitch was a horrible play call and Kaepernick made a horrible pitch. That is on 100% on him. He also hit Walker for what should have been a TD, but Walker dropped it. I can’t blame Akers too much for missing a 50 yard FG, but those are the kicks he made last season. I still can’t believe this team hasn’t been able to win three games in a row all year.
I hear you Jack, but with the ypa = 6.5, that is telling isn’t it? Wasn’t the reason to switch from AS was to increase the vertical pass?
I don’t believe so Hofer.
Wait, didn’t you say you have not even watch all of the game yet?
I haven’t. I’m going off of the written game stats. I’ll see it this afternoon. I’m still covered in mud. I lost a tree early this morning.
Sorry to hear about the tree Hofer.
Thanks Jack. Yeah, 5:30 this morning. I was happy it wasn’t my bigger trees that are closer to the house.
You should run when the d line is in your backfield all day Hofer. And they were.
Maiacco said that the 49ers were simply “outcoached.”
This loss is not about CK. CK will learn from this and become better. The AS crowd will shower down the blame game on CK, but they are still irked by the transition.
CK is still our best chance at winning. But obviously, we seen today that he will need better effort from his surrounding cast.
Keep telling yourself that! I hope it makes you feel better. All Alex does is win but it aint pretty enough for the haters! Now your pretty aint so pretty and the wins/losses are meaningless! Priceless!
Kap was very poised in the pocket and had some nice 3rd down throws and timely scrambles under alot of pressure BUT that turnover and silly safety were costly. But yes Kaep will learn from this as well as the coaches. Alex would have folded under that pass rush and would not have and could not throw deep against the coverage the rams played. Gore got stuffed and didn’t get alot of yrds after contact like when Hunter pinballs off tacklers with his speed. The running game is gonna miss Kendall Hunter alot more than we think also.
Hoferfan67 says:
December 2, 2012 at 2:36 pm
Thanks Jack. Yeah, 5:30 this morning. I was happy it wasn’t my bigger trees that are closer to the house.
@Hofe
Hope all is well. Be safe out there bud.
Thanks AES. All good now.