Lorenzo Neal spoke on 95.7 The Game Tuesday morning. Here’s what he said about Vernon Davis’ lack of involvement in the 49ers offense.
Q: What do you think of Vernon Davis’ disappearance the last two games?
NEAL: “You have to get him involved. You have to believe you can get Vernon Davis involved. He’s such a weapon. He’s such a playmaker. You’ve just got to throw the ball to this guy.
“There are opportunities. If they’re doubling him, then you move him. You move the guy. You don’t have him just line up straight. You have him move in motion. Now you can determine man or zone if you move him. Now it’s harder to double him because you have to compromise the integrity of the defense.
“They’ve got to get this guy involved. Vernon Davis is a playmaker, he’s shown he’s one of the best tight ends in the National Football League, and he can run. Coach has his hands full to get all of his weapons involved. Vernon Davis should be a on a short list of players he definitely needs to get involved in this offense.”
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Exactly!! That’s what I’ve been saying weeks. What’s up with that?
Yes. This is why I stopped drafting him for my fantasy team years ago! He should be the top TE drafted every year! ;)
Isn’t this Smith’s fault? After all, he is the starting QB. Wait…he isn’t? Then surely it must be CK’s fault since he is the starter now. Unless of course it is what I’ve said all along that it is the playcalling that’s to blame. Both guys only have so much that they can do in order to get Davis involved in the passing game. Roman needs to call better plays so CK and Davis can become a dangerous tandem. Roman failed to do that with Smith. He absolutely has to do it with CK; otherwise the Niners will be sitting at home during the Super Bowl again.
Amen,
too bad because Kaep threw him two beautifully thrown balls against N.O. One got called back because of a penalty. The other one was flat out dropped.
Is anyone concerned that the Raiders are a less penalized team than the 49ers right now?
Beyond concerned Bay. Inconsistency, stupid penalties, and a young QB learning on the fly are the three big things that could keep this team from going to the Super Bowl this season. Scratch that, four big things. I forgot the playcalling.
Who gives ^$&* about the Raiders.
Working on cutting up the all22 film. Focusing on passing game. Are there any particular pass plays you would like to see?
@ Jack:
I am interested in finding out how often Jenkins (or any Ram corner) played super soft coverage on the outside receivers. In other words, how often could the 49ers have thrown a slant, curl, etc. and gained a guaranteed 8+ yards? I was left with the impression (aided by the TV announcers) that it was frequent.
Claude,
Put it this way, I stopped charting it after the first half. They played soft all game. Their front 7 dominated all day.
I will make sure to include a few shots.
@ Jack:
So, why didn’t the 49ers take advantage of the soft coverage by throwing underneath?
Because they have a rookie qb playing against one of the best defensive minded head coaches.
Claude, thats what Ive been wondering. Instead of dropping back on a play action around the 20, (resulting in a safety) why not a quick drop and slant pass? Get away from the end zone and give yourslef more room for those cuter plays.
Claude,
For the majority of the game they did, which is why Kaepernick’s yards per attempt was low. To hit the underneath stuff against zone you need to have some guys going deep or else it is too compressed.
For the most part I thought Kaepernick did a good job of taking what they were giving him. With the exception of one play in the 3rd quarter I am having a hard time finding a play where he just missed seeing an open receiver.
@ Jack:
I mean specifically throwing to the receiver Jenkins was covering. He seemed to be giving a huge cushion to the WR on his side.
Claude,
I’ll take a look.
What did you think of the play calling? They had 32 passes and 36 runs, but a few of those runs were scrambles on called pass plays. Should they move away from the balanced approach?
Shouldn’t they look to open up the run game with the pass game if the runs aren’t working?
The short hitch routes were open all game. The Rams were giving the tight ends and wide receivers six yards on every play it seemed, and Roman didn’t take advantage often enough.
This comes back to them not putting the pedal to the metal. They were up 7 and defense is dominating, so they keep it balanced and try to speed up the game. Then they are up 8, same scenario.
Could this be a philosophical problem Harbaugh needs to address himself?
I think it’s a combination of Harbaugh’s philosophy and Roman’s drop-back passing schemes, such as they are.
@ Jack:
I downed a few beers watching the game with friends, so you have to discount my recall (although I didn’t have so much to drink that I chanted for David Carr). It wasn’t so much the run/pass balance that bothered me as it was the lack of imagination in the run calls (and I don’t mean the triple-option-pitch-the-ball-inside-your-own-10-yard-line kind of imagination).
I also was disappointed in the lack of scoring. It seemed like the team should have had more than 7 points in the first half.
“They had 32 passes and 36 runs, but a few of those runs were scrambles on called pass plays.”
Once again, t’s not the numbers it’s when they are tactically and strategically called period.
*it’s*
“It wasn’t so much the run/pass balance that bothered me as it was the lack of imagination in the run calls”
The Rams essentially out 49ered the 49ers. The Rams front 7 handled the 49ers all day long, and the 49ers had no one to threaten the edges with Hunter out. They then played soft on the back end.
It’s good to be balanced but sometimes you have to keep taking what the defense is giving you. They switched QB’s because they need to be able to lean on the passing game sometimes and sunday was that time.
I don’t know if it’s on the play calling or Kaep at the line of scrimmage, but the run game was ineffective and Gore had too many carries for too little results. Kaep was the only one moving the ball they could have given him even more opportunities.
More teams are gonna try to use Fisher’s blueprint though and how the 9ers adjust will be something to watch.
It could be jh and gr sticking with their philosophy of dictating to the defense. The rams were good stopping the run so they could dictate coverage unfortunately jh and gr never got the memo to adjust and take what is available
This is a marathon and not a sprint! Grant, it was I that has been saying the rams are agood team with a solid base, lots of top picks coming, your take was they are a bad team! Fisher is good and us they look bad at times but they are youn growing and they will be tough for years to come, hope the ninners progress and learn! No matter who the Qb is no one wins them all! Loss of Mario, Kyle and hunter is taking effect!
I grew up in Fresno. I used to see Neal get of the bus 5 to 10 miles from Fresno State and run to school.
highpriest,
I saw you on the news, it was not pretty, but a big cover up on your shady past.
@priest – that was funny
Grant, Dad says 49ers need to fire Roman, you agree with him?
Yes, I agree with my dad. Roman is currently the weak link of the offense.
As my dad wrote: “If you imagine Roman’s passing game as chess, he is still messing around with his pawns and hasn’t even discovered his knights and bishops.”
If possible Grant, I’d rather see Roman with the team next season. I don’t want CK to see the same revolving door at the OC position that Smith had to endure for seven seasons. But I do hope Roman’s playcalling gets better soon.
That’s a reasonable stance.
Some would call it an excuse unfortunately.
Midwest,
If Roman leaves not a major deal, Harbaugh will be back, it is not like a new coach and a new system. I wished Roman got the Penn State job. I hope in the off- season he can catch on as a head coach in the college ranks, he would be way over his head as a NFL head coach. From the interview with Harbaugh , it appears he will be more involved with the play calling, he said this morning, he would of been a little more aggressive in the last drive to set up Akers 51 yarder. The play calling was so predictable and Roman got gun shy after the stupid pistol formation with Ginn.
Good point Neal, but right now I’d rather not see CK’s progress hampered by having to learn a new offensive scheme in what will be his first full season as the starter next season. And I don’t know how much having Harbaugh more involved would affect this offense. After all, he had the choice to request a different call instead of that disastrous pistol option call and didn’t do so.
Grant, I liked your dad’s analogy about chess. The other one I liked on another blog was that Roman is like a father that buys his kid a Christmas toy that requires assembly and when he is done putting it together there are still parts laying on the floor.
Roman sucks. Most people forget how bad his play-calling and decision-making was last year, too. I hope some desperate team out there hires this schmuck as its head coach in the offseason so we can finally bring someone in who understands how to utilize all of our offensive weapons.
he made harbaugh at stanford…..check JH’s record at stanford with and without roman
I thought Shaw called the plays.
Neal, Roman was the run-game OC and Shaw was the passing-game OC. He is also the coach that is taking Stanford to the Rose Bowl. Wonder what this offense would look like with him as OC?
We need more than just Crabs, we need VD.
VD has only 37 receptions in 12 games? 3 per game average??? What the? He should have 5+ every game! This is ludicrous Roman! 2nd best TE in NFL? Are you kiddin me, C’mon man!!
Grants dad was also the one who kept making it seem like Vernon getting more involved during Bears game was because that Alex didn’t look for him. Obviously that is not the case. Both Qbs want to get VD the ball but D’s have done a good job of taking him away and opening things up underneath. Also as someone else mentioned in the Saints game Vernon had his opportunities and he let a perfect Kaep throw that could have gone for at least 40 bounce off his face and another was called back.