SAN FRANCISCO — Donte Whitner spoke at the podium after the 49ers beat the Dolphins on Sunday. Here’s what Whitner said.
Q: Can you talk about your body slam of Reggie Bush?
WHITNER: We just want to be physical any way we can. When you’re physical as a defense, it gives the offense something else to think about – not just your scheme, not just your pass rushers, but they have to think about protecting themselves when they’re around the football, and that’s how we play the game.
Q: Can you talk about Culliver?
WHITNER: Culliver is getting better each and every week. He’s playing like a top corner in the National Football League. He’s a guy – six-foot-plus. Almost 200 pounds. Wants to be physical. Really starting to study and become a student of the game. He’s just going to get better each and every week.
Q: How excited are you about the challenge you face next week against Tom Brady and the Patriots?
WHITNER: We’re going to be able to see where we are as a defense. We understand who’s going to have to win that football game. It’s going to be the defense. We understand their offense is going to try to control the football, get some big plays and put points on the board. We can’t allow that. So we’ll be ready.
Q: Tannehill was playing well in the first half, but he struggled in the second half. What happened?
WHITNER: We got a little lead, and they started to have to run routes longer than 10 yards. If you look at their offense, they’re really three steps, get the football out, don’t make him read too much. They don’t want him making mistakes. In the second half we got up two touchdowns and they had to throw the ball a little longer, go to five, seven step drops, try to get the football down field. Our rush was able to take over.
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“We understand who’s going to have to win the football that game. It’s going to be the defense.” My sediments exactly. The defense, and I have been somewhat critical earlier in the year, has stepped it up. They are going to have to play their best games of the year in the next two weeks if we are going to beat the Pats and the Hawks on the road.
The seahawks are not that goood. The teams they play are just that bad. Seatte lost to the same Miami team. The lost to the same Rams team. They lost one won one against AZ. They got a gift in GB that they should have lost. Russel Wilson only had 148 yards and a TD against a horrible AZ team.
Everyone is getting caught up in the hype. Sherman has a 4 game suspension looming. A Wilson led offense in Seattle is nothing to worry about.
“Whitner says the 49ers defense is going to have to beat the Patriots”
Translation:
After our offense has scored a total of 13 points in the past two games in the first half against sub 0.500 teams, we can’t depend on them to do anything to help us out.
Everyone now is looking around the room saying where is the added dimension CK was suppose to bring in the passing game? No. That added dimension was brought to the running game. This is what CK is right now, a running QB. Now he can become a overall QB but that I think takes an entire offseason.
Now we go into the final stretch with a very explosive running game in Gore, LMJ, Dixon, and Randal Kaepernick.
Roman will need to be even more creative in the run game to keep defense off balance and continue to take the underneath stuff.
No relief for the defense as usual but it is one of the best I have ever seen in SF. Aldon Smith, Willis, and Bowman are absolutely unreal players. This defense will need to get better to have a chance in the playoffs. I’m not sure that is possible.
Prime
It is pretty much impossible to ask more of the Defense than what they did against the Rams on the road in not allowing any points for 59:30 of a 60:00 regulation game….and we still lost.
I’ve heard about “the new guy” for so long now in sports. How he’s going to change this and that, and can do things nobody has ever dreamed as being possible blah blah blah. And then…nothing.
At this point CK is Troy Smith to me with a better cast of players around him than Troy ever had. CK needs to prove he is not Troy Smith version 2.0 the next two weeks.
If he finds a way to look good in NE and win, and heck, win in Seattle (I don’t care how bad he looks there, just win the freaking game) then he will have proven to be better than Troy Smith. To prove he is better than Alex Smith he must win the Super Bowl this year. Because Alex made the title game last year, and the only thing better is to win the Super Bowl (losing it does not make you better).
The last 2 weeks he’s played against sub 0.500 teams and has looked poor. The next two he will play against teams above 0.500 which are the kinds of teams we’ll play in the playoffs. We’ll see if CK is the kind of QB who seems to play down to the competition as he has the past two weeks then rises up against good teams (Pats and Seattle), or if he really is a one trick pony which the NFL has figured out how to stop from being an efficient QB.
DS that’s the only way we will have a fighting chance is for our defense to continue to play better, get more turnovers, and control the game.
The offense is now a work in progress . Give Roman credit for sticking with the run and using what CK does well, runnin the ball. It’s clear that in order for him to develop into a complete QB, he will need an entire off season in this system. Lets just hope Randal Kaepernick (this is who he looks like) can continue to break off those 50+ yard runs over the next 3 games and into the playoffs.
Smh.
Kaepernick did not look poor yesterday. And aside from a handful of plays, he didn’t look particularly poor against the Rams. For a guy who hasn’t had a lot of practice as the No. 1 QB, he’s doing quite well.
Prime – You’re creeping towards liking Kap bro, I knew it. :)
Comparing Kap to a 4 time Pro-Bowl QB is a good start.
Remember, Kap had a new weapon (LMJ) this week and he didn’t have Hunter and Manningham either. So all in all, it was a very good performance (A-).
185 yards passing is not good enough for me though.
Agree, Roman can get more creative in running game…….You’re creepin Prime. :)
I hope me and you can continue to debate Niner football, unfortunately I don’t click well with some here. I hope you understand. I respect your football opinions but face it, we’ll probaly never agree on AS/CK.
6 points in the first half claude when our D once again dominated.
I can have my opinion you know. There is no law saying everybody must agree with claude.
And I’ve stated my reasons for my grading. CK replaced 18/19 3TD’s. Therefore he must be better than that. Therefore he is going to be graded on a higher scale. If you don’t like that, tough.
CK must prove himself a winner. Bloggers won’t do that.
BS,
you do realize that the Dolphins beat the
Bengals
Rams
Seahawks
They are a team on the rise. You wanted to discredit the opponents to show that our QB isn’t as good as the guy sitting on the bench. At least you found a buddy that you can dialogue with in Primetrash/welcher. You two are made for eachother.
Crabs Im over Alex and the CK debate. My problem was the timing of the switch and the losing your job to injury. That’s not how it should have gone down.
Now we move on with Kap. It’s gonna take a miracle to win a Super Bowl given his limited playing time and comfort in this offense. Im not seeing all the things said and written about him since the Bears game. I thought he would add a dimension in the downfield passing game, more explosive plays with his rocket arm, more scoring. It has gotten progressively worse but no one wants to talk about it. They want to talk about potetial and it all being part of the learning curve.
Well it’s now week 15 and couple things I know. We have a great defense, a running QB and an offense trying to rediscover itself. If that can turn potential into a tittle, Im all in!
@ DS:
Of course you can have your opinion; I didn’t say you couldn’t. I merely expressed my opinion disagreeing with yours.
As for Kaepernick having to best 18/19, 3 TDs, that seems to be a rather unreasonable standard. After all, Smith only did it once.
Btw, with Kaepernick as the starter, the 49ers are 3-1. He is winning.
bay
Go away. Nobody would care. Really.
Prime – Well said, fair enough. No miracle needed to win Super Bowl IMO.
I say 50% chance we get there. Glad to see you are over the Alex/CK debate. Maybe I should join you.
claude
That was the AS JH replaced. Want some more examples of great games?
How about opening day? Winning in GB. That hadn’t happened in like 21 years or so. His game against Buffalo. Led the team to a franchise record 300 in passing and 300 rushing. That was special. Our dynasty teams played a lot of bad teams, but never managed that feat. Or the TB game last year when he led the team to its largest margin of victory since the great one himself.
The argument that AS had reached his ceiling is the BS argument of the century. 18/19 3 TD’s on the road no less suggests that AS ceiling wasn’t reached. And if that is his ceiling, it is a good one to have.
How this whole thing went down is utter crap claude. I’m a Niner fan, but I didn’t support the decision to dump Garcia for Rattay and I’m not supporting this decision till CK proves something against winning teams. In my heart of hearts I felt we could go anywhere anytime and beat anybody. The GB win gave that to me. So far, under CK, we can’t go into a sub 0.500 teams house and win convincingly. If not for our defense scoring 2 TD’s I’m not at all convinced we win it in NO either.
As I said. The past two games were against poor teams. The next two will be against good teams. The type we’ll see in the playoffs. If you want to judge CK based on him playing 3 straight teams which are below 0.500 by the way, be my guest. Me…I need to see him do something against teams that are at least 0.500 to say if he is the future.
You tell me that the Niners don’t have superior talent in nearly(if not every) starting position on D and offense than the Rams and Miami have and I’ll sell you a bridge that leads to nowhere. These past two games don’t tell me anything about CK except he can’t blow out bad teams. How you or anybody can determine he is the future of the Niners escapes all reason and logic. That mus be proven. Especially on a team with as much talent as we have.
The one winning team by the way that he (CK) beat, the Bears, an actual rookie QB just beat them in home (Chicago) and he displayed the ability to win it in OT. Not just almost win it in OT. Considering that is our competition (Seattle), I’m sorry if I’m not all fired up about CK and his 13 first half points against teams who we far superior to the past two weeks. Add to that Wilson backed that game up with 58 points at home while we struggled to score and I’m not on convinced we found our franchise QB as much as I am Seattle found theirs.
CK has to convince me. He hasn’t yet. And if he fails to win the Super Bowl this year, that is a big minus. Not fair you say?? Well neither was the fact AS lost his job due to injury. So it evens out at the end. And it really will be on JH. I said it the moment JH announced CK the starter in the Rams game. This all falls on him.
DS,
You have become as biased against Kap as you accused others of being against Smith. Kap is doing what he is supposed to do. This idea that the offense would become an explosive downfield passing system was a fantasy put out by fans who want to see that, but has no chance of happening because that is not what Harbaugh and Roman do. Kap is doing what Smith did previously in taking what the defense gives him. The difference is, he can break off the 50 yard run that Smith doesn’t have in his arsenal (I know he did it against the Saints, but it’s not something he does often) and gives them more options in the run formations with the pistol and option plays he’s used to running.
The Niners are winning the same way they did with Alex – running the ball and defense at the forefront – but the Coaches have determined Kap gives them the extra dimension for offensive creativity that Smith does not. You can continue to whine and complain about what you believe Kap is doing wrong, or you can accept the fact the Coaches have made a change and support your team. Whichever way you decide to go is irrelevant though because Kap is going to start for the foreseeable future and most likely the rest of the season however long it goes.
@ DS:
Of course it falls on Harbaugh; he’s the head coach. He gets paid to make decisions just like this one. It’s a gamble, and Harbaugh will be second guessed if it doesn’t work out, but it is his call to make. Given his track record to date, I am inclined to trust him. At one time, you also were inclined to trust him.
Also, one can disagree with Harbaugh’s decision and still acknowledge that Kaepernick looks pretty good for a guy who didn’t start taking 1st team snaps until 4 weeks ago. Again, your argument clearly seems to be with Harbaugh. Why take it out on Kaepernick by judging him prematurely and with undue harshness?
Rocket, Nice post, DS does not want to let go. She has become the new hater of the blog, she hates Kaep and JH. Love when the Smithers can put BS in his place. DS, you truly are not a 49er fan, all CK does is win and now you have to be a hypocrite with your stupid stats, gawd, you are the village idiot on here. Stop hating. I know you want the Niners to lose this season, so you can say ” I told you so” bull crap.
Year ONE under Alex Smith: 1 TD 16 INTs
Team Record 4-12
Year TWO under Alex Smith: 16 TD 16 INTs
Team Record 7-9
Year One under Collin Kaepernick: 3 TDs 1 INT (5 RUSHING TDs)
Team record 3-1
What is there to complain about?
Matt – No complaints here.
rocket
How’s it going?
By the way I can care less if somebody think AS is a franchise QB, or whatever you want to call it.
The problem I had with “the others’ (good movie title by the way) was how they degraded AS with insults like ‘Alice’ and such. This is a blog. If we all agreed all the time, there wouldn’t be a point to having it. ‘Alice’ remarks have no place. Nor do racist comments. Questioning a players skill do. You can be civil about it rocket, and I dare you a trillion cred points you can’t find a single post where I degrade CK. I’m critical of him yes. But I don’t degrade him as those who have claimed to be “critical” of AS have done so with him. Saying 13 points in total the past 2 games in the first half against two sub 0.500 teams while our defense was playing lights out isn’t acceptable is a legit comment. Even if everybody here thinks otherwise.
If you don’t see the difference, oh well.
claude
You really need to go back and read what I said when all this went down. I don’t know if you were online at the time, but pretty much everything you keep asking me about I discussed, brought up, etc. then.
I said in all these replies to you that the issue is with JH. JH made the decision. I’ve also said CK hasn’t played well. The two thoughts are possible without any problems between them. Why you somehow don’t get this, I don’t know. I am saying it as simply as I can. JH is the reason we made it to the title game last year and shall we not make it this year, it will be on him.
I said CK was placed in a virtually no win situation from the start. He has to play as well as 18/19 3 TD’s because that was the last game AS played. Supposedly CK is as comfortable now with the offense as he was at the start of the year (his words). If so, we should have started CK from the get-go. Or JH should have replaced AS after a poor performance. But after 18/19, and his “hot hand” comments (how can a QB be hot after a loss?) he’s lost a lot here with CK being stuck in the middle.
JH stank this up big time. Even if we win this year, nobody is remotely going to take him seriously with the “Pro Bowl ” comments or the chest pounding thing he does to the QB before the game or any of that. And I can assure you, no player will just go up to him and tell him they don’t feel well ever again. And the first job of a coach is to look after your players. If they don’t feel they are “safe”, they likely won’t. Nothing good will happen if they don’t, and possibly something very, very bad will. I’m not talking about losing some stupid football game either. And that is a huge tragedy.
DS,
It’s going well and thanks for asking. Hope you are doing well also.
I didn’t say you were disparaging Kap, I said you are looking at his play from an biased viewpoint similar to what Anti Smith commentors did in the past.
You are saying Kap didn’t play well and basing the amount of points scored as your main point of contention, but he is not the sole reason they do or don’t score points the same as Alex when he was playing.
In actuallity, Kap had an Alex Smith stat line yesterday. High completion rate, around 200 yards and no Ints. That is what Alex gave the Niners on avg most of the time and Kap used the same formula yesterday and won. The difference between the two is in the added element Kap brings with his escapability and his running prowess.
I’m not trying to tell you what you should think; I’m simply pointing out that you are overlooking some efficient play from Kap that you used to praise Smith for. The explosive plays are brought up by fans who want something the offense doesn’t do. There will be more attempts on long throws with Kap, but there is not going to be a tangible difference in explosive elements of the offense because that isn’t what the system is based on. They are a power running, play action offense that believes in balance of run/pass ratio. They are not the Saints or the Packers and never will be under this Coaching staff. Not saying you said they would be, I’m just addressing the multiple people who believed and dreamed about an explosive pass heavy offense when Kap was named the starter.
I firmly believe Kap is starting because the Coaching staff believes he is versed enough in the offense to run the same system they ran with Alex and that he gives them the ability to use his legs and escapability to add another dimension to the offense that they didn’t have with Smith. Give him the same respect you give to Smith and don’t let yourself use different criteria to assess his performance than you would with Alex. That is all I’m saying.
@rocket the debate since the QB switch was CK would add another dimension to the passing game that would take pressure off the running game and the defense not having to play perfect games.
Now the question is where is all that? The running prowess as you stated has elevated the run game, but not the passing game which everyone said would be essential in taking this team to the next level. Since the Bears game the pass offense has regressed. Show me all the numbers you want, it does not look like it has improved.
People on here want to classify it as CK vs. Smith. It’s not. It’s about winning a Super Bowl and now CK leads that charge with moving parts and uncertainty.
This is my point of contention that nothin has really improved from this switch and our season is headed in a different direction now with injuries, play calling, production and spirit of the team on the field. A lot has changed in 4 weeks and to me it looks like regression, not progression regardless of who is playing QB.
Rocket
If the new guy isn’t winning by more points and the team wins in the same manner, I don’t support the notion of a switch. To me you only switch from winning to an unknown if
1 He produces more. Not the same. If you get the same results withyour medication (side effects are the same etc.) then do you switch? I personally wouldn’t.
2 He wins games the old guy couldn’t without losing games the older guy wins.
You don’t switch because things remain the same. That removes the reason to switch completely. You switch to get better.
And sorry. That 50 yard run yesterday wasn’t great. DW was a lead blocker and never had to touch anybody. You, me, Grant could have ran that in. Miami had to sell out. Once CK was beyond the LOS, it was over.
Against the Rams, AS gets less yards on that run. Like 30 or so. But that also means AS winds the clock down more leaving less time for the Rams. How do I know this? Because AS won 6/14 wins last year doing that. Historical data supports that. Similar style games by the way. There is no historical data to suggest CK would win. In fact he didn’t. Only a belief. Well I can have a belief and you can have one, and everybody can have a different belief. What seperates beliefs from facts is history (AKA Facts). Until CK provides a documented list of historical data (college doesn’t count) I will continue to question the move. No such data yet has been provided. Only beliefs. And if you go by the rule as I do that all beliefs are equal,the belief that CK is the future holds as much water as the one he isn’t till data is collected to prove it either way.
And no matter what, I’ll always question how this went down. And that will linger on this franchise for as long as JH remains.
Prime,
@rocket the debate since the QB switch was CK would add another dimension to the passing game that would take pressure off the running game and the defense not having to play perfect games.
Now the question is where is all that? The running prowess as you stated has elevated the run game, but not the passing game which everyone said would be essential in taking this team to the next level. Since the Bears game the pass offense has regressed. Show me all the numbers you want, it does not look like it has improved.
Prime everything you said in this paragraph was a creation compiled from the fertile minds of fans who prefer fiction over fact. There has never been anything said or insinuated by the team to indicate an increased focus or reliance on the passing game. The reason is, they aren’t going to change who they are no matter who is playing QB.
As is often the case, we tend to overthink at times when the answer is relatively simple. Kap is playing because he energized the locker room after the Bears game and they got on a little roll with him. He also has shown an ability to keep plays alive and not take as many sacks as Alex has in the past. I really don’t believe there is as much thought and analysis put into this decision by the Coaching staff as many on here have surmised. Coaches tend to be creatures of habit and when they find a formula that works – can also be referred to as the hot hand in this example – they stick to it due to the old adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
The reality is, you can’t change an offensive system in the middle of the season no matter what QB you are using. The offense is the same. What changes are the formations to take advantage of Kaps running abilities and the amount of times Kap decides to throw deep on a play that Smith may not have. That’s really all there is to it. Kap is playing because since he’s been in there he’s given them no reason to take him out. If he does in the future, they may revisit that, but right now they are going with what is working.
DS,
I think you are overlooking some very important things here. Kap has two 50 yard runs in two weeks. That is something you don’t get from Alex Smith and I don’t agree with you that Smith would have run either time both because he looks to throw it when running outside the pocket unless it’s a designed run, and because they wouldn’t have been in the formation Kap got his TD run off of.
The passing numbers are relatively similar because the offense is the same and the playcalling for the most part is too. The difference is in the plays they can call to take advantage of Kaps athleticism and his ability to escape pressure and keep plays alive.
Imo, you are setting the bar for Kap higher than you would for Smith and I don’t think it’s fair. Kap has started 4 games now and is doing the same kind of things Smith did along with the explosive runs. The bottom line is winning, at least for me and so far he’s doing that with the exception of the Rams game.
You don’t have to agree with Harbaugh’s decision, but you also don’t have to look at Kap with the same discerning eye that others did with Smith. If he wins games what does it matter?
Translation,
DS’s panties are in a bunch over the switch….
Let’s talk about La Michael. This cat is very fast. I’m still baffled as to why it took him so long to taste real game action. He’s a home run threat…. Just wondering if he should be returning kicks being that he is so valuable.
Every expert said the same thing rocket. Not just bloggers.
And then there’s BS, still talking about the QB switch….
How about an update on Dobbs. How is he?
Ok then.
AS doesn’t get a garbage time TD. Do you place so much value im garbage time?
The smartest move would have been to not run for the TD. Get the 1st down, then go down. Miami had no timeouts. We get in victory formation and the game ends.
By scoring that TD, all CK did was give the appearance that we handled Miami, and risk exposing our ST/defense to inury by playing unnecessary snaps.
True the liklihood is low, but so is the liklihood of getting your 2 biggest role players hurt on the same play with ACL injures on the same play. Which happened last week by the way to KW/KH.
Had CK not ran for the TD, would you be ok with it? You’re grading him up on a play that had it just been a first down, we still win but with a lower score. The only difference is a TD vs a 1st down. And I bet AS could have gotten a 1st down there.
I want to see a lot of first half points. That’ll show me he controls the game rather than garbage time TD’s. CK has 20 first half points in his last 3 games. All against losing teams. Had it been AS would you be fine with that output? Against losing teams I am not.
You don’t see the added CK dimension? You can’t run a true Drew Brees/Brady/Manning type deep passing offense when most of the plays are tailored for Alex Smith. However, I am seeing more four/five receiver sets and more 3rd down conversions from Kap. The pistol formations are slowly evolving and fooling D-lineman. Also, each offensive drive are eating clock time and resting the 9er defense for the second half. More fireworks are coming.
Grant
Will you get the Carlos Rodgers transcript up soon? He had some interesting comments as well.
DS… hate to say it but you’re starting to sound like a broken record. The move has been made.. just accept it. It’s over… crying over spilled milk isn’t going to do anything. The O is improved and more dynamic with CK at QB. Sorry but it’s the truth
BS,
you’ve cried so much your socks are soggy. Benny broken record is a huge understatement.
This room is now a therapy session for BS.
Benny
Sorry, but I was the first to reply “No” when Grant asked if JH can turn back to AS. I accepted it quite a long ago now.
Doesn’t make it good/right/whatever. And the broken record gives the same answer to the same question. Perhaps you should ask different questions if you want a new record.
I have tried to bring up non-aQB things here, but nobody cares to reply to them so those threads die out. If you want a new discussion it would help if such threads had replies. Simple fact of the blog universe.
People question decisions outside of their hands all the time, and for a long time. See the Iraq War for proof of such. And it doesn’t take away that it was the wrong thing to do until proven otherwise. This QB change will be proven quickly one way or the other.
The O is so predictable. After watching Kap throw as beautiful a pass as i’ve seen in a long time to moss on the flea flicker, i believe Harbaugh should let him throw 3 or 4 deep shots out of the base O not just trick plays. What concerns me is the overall play of the O line sacks and penalties
Copy that, coach. One play, I’ve always loved is the designed roll-out to the right and throwing deep to the left side of the field. I realize plays have to be available but using your point, if you sling it out there a few times, the opposing D can’t stack the box w/o getting burnt.
The defense is getting back to the form they were in last season. EXCEPT: the third downs. It has to be improved. They will have their hands full this Sunday because the patriots aren’t just a passing team anymore. Like against GB, N.O they must get pressure through the whole game to have a chance at beating the patriots. The offense must keep FG and LJ running. I thought the dolphins played very well yesterday keeping our defense on the field and our offense on the sidelines in the first half. The 49ers MUST do the same Sunday night.
@ ninermd:
The defense is getting back to the form they were in last season. EXCEPT: the third downs. It has to be improved.
Excuse me, but what are you talking about? The defense is allowing fewer third down conversions this year (31.43%) than it did last year (35.06%). Only the Texans’ defense does a better job.
http://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/opponent-third-down-conversion-pct
-What about the Defense takeaways also this year? That’s way down from last year. But, at least we are on the plus side of things and there is no way we could duplicate last years plus/minus turnover ratio anyway which was phenominal
Claude,
MD never lets the facts get in the way of a good rant.
Claude you are absolutely right. Somewhere between switching years on my stats page. I crossed them up. I was obviously looking at last seasons stats.
And rocket. Facts like smith wasn’t consistent enough to keep his job. Right? Now wipe that egg off of your face.
I expect the niners to rush only 3 or 4. The Smith brothers alone will take care of Brady. Everyone else will drop back and punish any Pat holding the ball. Win or lose, Welker, Hernandez, Woodhead will get a beating from Whitner and company. Don’t forget X49er Brandon Loyd. He flinches during a catch when he sees incoming defensive backs.
You all, including Grant seem to be misreading Whitner’s quote. He never says the defense is going to have to beat the Patriots.
“We understand who’s going to have to win the football that game.”
He is talking about how the Patriots do a good job of controlling the ball and how the defense needs to step up and either take it away or get off the field as quickly as possible for the offense to take over. It will be important for them to win T.O.P.
Sorry Jack, I miss-typed it. The quote was, “We understand who’s going to have to win that football game.”
Thanks for the adjustment Grant.
My last paragraph was still pretty good though. I will give myself a B grade : )
Solid reasoning, as usual. I’ll give you an A.
And if you saw it, you knew by looking in his eyes what he meant.
The written word doesn’t express that well.
By the way Jack I don’t much distinguish between the two. They say the same thing. We the D are the ones who will have to win the game. The talk in the pre-season was on AS and the offense and what might happen when we play teams like NE if our D falters. Will our offense score enough points to save the defense?
Well, here we are with CK as the QB and the same question is present. If anything it stands out more now than it did in the pre-season.
21-17, they will play 49ers football, come out of Foxboro with a win and it will be a catalyst to a Super Bowl run just as it was for the NY Giants last season.
Exactly, of course the D will have to win the game, so to speak. Anytime you play the #1 scoring O, the D will have a prominent roll, that goes without saying. Whitner just stated the obvious.
It wasn’t even close to a slight to the offense, nice try Grant. They all know what needs to happen, you MUST slow down the Patriot offense to have a chance to beat them.
Time for the best tackling team to show it in spades!
I say the Pats roll the Texans tonight, the Texans biggest weakness is coverage in the middle of the field, especially the ILB’s. Exactly what the Niners excel at.
Welker is going to be a problem in the same way Amendola was. Those quick slot receivers have been carving us up all season. How do we stop Wes Welker?
I say beat the crap out of him at the line, 2 under man coverage. CB’s up on press coverage filter WR to middle of field where Willis\Bowman is waiting. That defense exposes Whitner a little bit though, he must have deep half.
I’d also like to see a ‘few’ Brooks and Aldon drop backs to the flat, that disrupts the slants and always seems to cause a little confusion for the offense.
“How do we stop Wes Welker?”
For starters let’s see how Houston attacks him tonight. Other than that I would say stay out of 3rd and 5 or less situations…
Coffee great question
Jack – Here is your assignment from Professor Crab:
Tune in to Pats/Texans tonight and dissect Pats Offense & Defense (no special teams info needed).
I expect a very thorough breakdown of how Niners can best attack Pats D and what their strengths and weaknesses are.
Next, Im requiring you scrutinize Tom Brady and his dynamic offense. Go over their offense with a fine-tooth comb. Focus, focus, focus Jack.
Upon completion of your research, I’m counting on you to deliver a detailed plan of attack for Niner defense. What are the keys to slowing down Brady etc?
Jack – This a pass or fail assignment, an incomplete report will not be accepted. This report is due within 24 hours of end of game.
Any questions for me? No……..Good.
I hope you are prepared for this important challenge.
Thank you and good luck.
`PC
Even Hartline in the 1st half was doing well yesterday. Our defense has problems with tiny white receivers.
Clem – You playin the race card now? Lol….You kill me man.
How bout move culliver inside and leave Rogers outside. Jack do you think that sort of adjustment could be made in one week. [I kinda doubt it}
Didn’t they try that against Amendola in the first matchup a bit?
old coach,
I think they’ve done that a few times this season but Rogers seems to be the guy they trust most in the slot. He’s had games where he’s struggled obviously, but slot receivers are tough to cover and they need to help him out with Welker by dropping one of the LB’s in a short zone or bringing the saftey up so Rogers can cover the short area. Either way Welker is the key to stopping the Pats passing game with Gronkowski out. If they keep him in check they’ll win the game.
The hard-hitting tandem of Whitner and Goldson are not nearly as vicious as the Tatum/Atkinson tandem was back in the day.
Many of the Tatum/Atkinson hits would have gotten them suspended or kicked out of the league. These 2 Raidas were ferociously dangerous!
If you have 4 min free, I guarantee you will be astounded if you watch this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXl4IfcdQQA&feature=related
Different rules Crabs
If you ever get a chance check out Nfl films the top 10 hitters what they allowed in the 50′s was far more violent than the raiders in the 70′s
coach – More violent than Atkinson/Tatum? Seriously coach? Nobody was more violent than those 2 players. Did you watch the 4 min video?
I wasn’t around in the 50′s but I’ll look it up to see if you are right. Thanks for the info.
The NFL is soft now. Some of the helmet to helmet calls I’m seeing are rediculous. Why even wear helmets if they can’t be used?
I want to see Whitner take out Hernandez.
You can stop Welker by hitting him over and over, within the 5 yard limit off the line and then when he catches the ball… make him pay the bill.
Crabs it was the rules not the players themselves. the clothes line was legal oh my god they would nearly tear the ball carriers heads off. check out night train lane. there was also a 49er line backer who’s name i ca’nt remember who supposedly knocked out like 50 different guys. by the way i’m old but not that old i have a few vauge memories of the late 5o’s. my pops is 86 yo and he and his family were season ticket holders in 1946 alot of our family history is about the 9ers. i just remembered the 9ers name it was hardy brown
coach – You are right, I still have NFL top ten hitters on my dvr (just looked) and Hardy Brown (punches to throat) is #5 and Night Train Lane (clothes line) is #2.
I stand corrected but Atkinson and Tatum (ranked #7) were just as violent.
You made my day coach. :)
Didn’t CK throw that perfect bomb to Moss and Moss dropped it? Albeit Moss right arm was held. Every pass CK throws is an accurate rocket. Any overthrows is usually a receiver held up breaking into a slant. What Brady has is the perfect chemistry between his receivers on every play. CK doesn’t have that yet. It’s still Alex Smith offense that is use to too much 3rd down sacks and an over reliance on Gore. Slowly I’m seeing more four wide receiver sets and deeper throws that was nonexistent in the Smith era. Plus Moss’s speed is lacking. Da Michael James maybe that perfect speedster replacement for Kendall Hunter that will be used in deeper routes.