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  1. Loved it, Grant, and felt like I was sitting on your couch across from you talking football. Really cool. I think Shanny is driving his hooptie offense, and keeping his mercedes in the garage until the regular season. I doubt he treats the 3rd preseason game as traditionally as most do….

      1. You’re welcome, Grant. Did you happen to hear him say that he cannot use any plays he uses in preseason?

          1. Shanny’s answer:

            “To be honest with you, it’s miserable for a coach. You never want to go out and look bad and get embarrassed,” he said, “but I also am very well aware that any play that works in the preseason will not work in the regular season, so you don’t want to waste anything, either.”

              1. You bet. It stood out to me when I read it, because I don’t recall ever hearing a head coach saying that before.

            1. This is why I was laughing so much at the excitement generated on Twitter about the Titans offense yesterday. It’s freaking week 2 of the preseason! ?

              1. KS was simply stating the obvious, anybody who knows anything about football is aware of this. He brought it up as an explanation why they got smoked……

            2. that’s a bogus statement by KS! andy reid says he game plans for the pre-season games, and he surely does fairly well during the regular season!!

              1. Mike,
                I agree with your statement in general but I think it needs a bit more clarification. Base plays will be well known by both teams and knowing the play doesn’t necessarily mean the defense can stop it, as they don’t know when it will come.
                However, coaches typically don’t game plan in the preseason and are fairly vanilla. This the case for a few reasons.
                1. The base plays will always be there and need to be successful normally for the offense to be successful, so these need to be perfected as much as possible in the preseason. *note* this is doubly true when a team is installing a new offense.
                2. Coaches don’t want to show any new wrinkles they have added before they need to so that they might catch their opponents by surprise. (So his statement is only partially true)
                3. They are mostly trying to evaluate players and need to see their strengths and weaknesses… so their game planning will mostly consist of making sure to run certain plays with certain personnel.

  2. Second preseason game. Shocked Shanahan didn’t call for the deep ball? Well, we don’t know what he called and what Hoyer saw as plays reeled off. Shocked? Nope. Just because we didn’t see 8 deep balls doesn’t mean they’re not there. I agree with you, there’s still time–two more games before we take on the Panthers.

  3. Grant, I didn’t get to see this when you were live. When you were asking about any other major college QBs, I would have mentioned Diondre Francois of FSU. Talk about tough! He was sore and injured for most of last season. He could never recover because it seemed like he would get killed in at least 1 or 2 plays every game. If he came out at all, it was only for a series and he’d go right back in. He’s only a redshirt sophomore and depending on how FSU does, he might not come out in 2018. Even if he did, I could see Shanahan taking him in the 2nd tier of QBs. Francis has tremendous upside and plays out of a pro offense, which is what Kyle prefers.

    1. I’m agree so much, I’m wondering if you plagerized me. Just kidding. About the plagerizing.

      1. Have you mentioned Francois? I also mentioned him a couple of months ago. I used to live in Tallahassee, beginning in the Charlie Ward, Derrick Brooks, Peter Warrick and Warrick Dunn days. I was able to go see them win the college championship against Michael Vick and Va. Tech in 1999 at the Sugar Bowl. I went to the Orange Bowl the next year when they played Oklahoma. They were 17 point favorites and everyone thought that FSU was going to kill them. I had this sinking feeling because it seems like when EVERYBODY thinks one team is going to win…. it doesn’t happen. Oklahoma shut down FSU 13-2. The only points came on a bad snap on a punt that went through the end zone.

        I live in Tampa now and get to see most of FSU’s games on local television. College football is a religion in the South!

              1. True. I’m in the Oakland part. The boarder is around the corner.

                Doesn’t Piedmont have apartment buildings? I don’t think so.

              2. Grant Cohn says:
                August 20, 2017 at 6:23 pm
                Doesn’t Piedmont have apartment buildings? I don’t think so.
                ———————
                Nope, I doubt you’d find any and if you did I wouldn’t want to think what the rent would be.

              3. I don’t think the city of Piedmont wants renters to have access to its public schools.

              4. My step mother was the school registrar for Piedmont High and she had some interesting stories of people trying to fake their address so their kid could go to P High.

          1. Guess it doesn’t matter because everyone that watches you on Periscope is going to think you live in Piedmont :)

  4. I’m not especially surprised at the mistakes or no long ball. Is there any other NFL team with less cohesion than the 49ers (by that I mean 75% turnover in players, injuries, key players that had to go to school until August). There is next to no chemistry that has had time to develop yet. I don’t think that the third game is going provide satisifying answer. I’m not sure that the first few games of the season are going to go real well.

    I think your obeservation last week that this team could go to 8-9 wins is theoretically possible, but I don’t think they will because of the loses that they will accrue until they can develop that team synergy. This year is only stage one of a six-year process. I want to see improvement from week to week. I want to see some young stars develop. I want to see some returning players play at a higher level (ditto for free agent acquisitions in regard to their previous teams.)

    If they did not draft DBs, I’m more interested in why not–I suspect that the long-range plan wasn’t targeting them this year. I am fully confident that their reason plays into a multiple-year draft plan, where they didn’t see a top-three DB [if one actually exisited] as a better option than Solomon Thomas. Especially as they had no foresight on Reuben Foster.

    They are not headed to playoffs and may not rise much higher in the standings. To think that they could even begin to address all the problems on the roster in one year is unrealistic. I’m not planning to get real excited for next year, either. 2019–we’ll see.

  5. Regarding not going deep to open up the offense, I think Kyle and most these NFL coaches in preseason play it so close to the chest not wanting to give anything away prior to the regular season it has now become a liability. You here so many of the pundits saying teams don’t get into sync until the 4th regular season game blaming the CBA for less practice time. That’s part of it but these coaches now show nothing on what they are planning in the regular season and the timing is not there..

  6. Lol, this was a 2-14 team last year with a whole new roster, coaches and schemes. The game was sloppy however this is only pre season and the coaches do not do any planning against the opponent team. Three of the turnovers were more accidental and not related to lack of technique. Hopefully they will get better with time collectively. This team is not expected to go to the playoffs this year so we have to be patient. Go Niners

  7. According to reports, the 49ers have featured a good long ball with Hoyer throughout OTA’s and practice. Could it be the coaches might be “holding something back” just like people said about Harbaugh? The unfortunate thing about coach H holding something back is the process never amounted to anything. Hopefully the current staff is more accomplished.

  8. You know the Trubisky situation it pretty fascinating. You mentioned him and it got me thinking…. During the draft…everybody praised Lynch for the move getting the extra picks and still getting Soloman.
    Chicago fans slammed the GM and he got a lot of flack. Nobody ever considered that Trub might end up being really special and great.
    What if Trubisky turns out to be a top 4 QB?
    Test of time will be interesting on that one.
    If CJ whiffs and Thomas just turns out to be pretty good…….
    Could be a big story in a couple of years like the Rodgers/Smith one.
    So far Trub looks like he’s on his way. Still early but it’s interesting to ponder.

    1. I must admit, he looks much better than I anticipated. All depends on whether the pressure from losing under Glennon forces them to insert Trubiscuit before he’s ready, and ruins him a la Bortles, and the Jaguars. They had the same plan, to sit Bortles for a year. Sometimes the best laid plans…Besides the obvious lack of experience, I knew Shanny wouldn’t take him. By all reports, he’s not an alpha personality which is what Shanny prefers at the position….

      1. Thomas was swallowed by Denver’s O line. He as a total non factor. Carradine consistently got penetration and was in on tackles. Thomas was a goose egg and pushed around all evening long. He still has a ways to go before he ascends any throne.

      2. Trubisky was my favorite college QB last year and I wouldn’t have been upset had we selected him (Thomas and Foster is certainly a haul to be happy about). I got to thinking about his “lack of experience”. It might actually be a plus because he hasn’t had as much time to ingrain bad habits (from an NFL perspective) that NFL coaches would have to break.

        1. If you don’t have experience taking a snap undercenter, and your 3, 5, and 7 step drops to where it’s muscle memory, you’re already behind the 8-Ball. Takes a long time to develop. Remember how long it took Alex Smith?

          1. How many OC and coaches did Alex Smith go through though. Consistency plays a part in learning curve.

  9. Grant or anybody else.

    I read that Hoyer’s INT may have been tipped at the line. Was it? Either way Goodwin should have caught it. Vance should have caught his pass too. Had they made those catches, Hoyer would have been 10/11 with no picks. And of course that god awful fumble. But going 8/11 (should be 10/11) with no running game should be encouraging for those who aren’t biased by Hoyer hate or Kap love.

    1. It wasn’t tipped, though Hoyer played better than his stats indicated. The fumble was just poor execution. Hey, that’s never happened with other guys, right?

  10. I totally disagree with you about Alex Smith doing better with the team than Colin Kaepernick. You are discounting the decline in talent starting mid-season in 2012. Alex Smith was successful in 2011 because not that much production was required from him for the team to win. They went all of the year with no major injuries until Ted Ginn was injured in the playoffs and just injury that ended up costing them a trip to the SB.

    The wheels came off the injury free train starting in the middle of the 2012 season. First on offense. They lost Hunter who was a key alternate rb and who after he was injured they over worked Gore. Over working Gore affected his effectiveness and if they didn’t have the last reg season game and the bye to rest him he would have not been effective in the playoffs either. They also lost Manningham whom Kaep had begun to have a connection with. They also lost Williams. That’s two wr’s gone. Akers also went from a career year in 2011 to his worst ever because he played the end of the 2012 season with a groin injury. That is partially why the offense relied do much on Kaeps legs to win games.

    When Justin Smith got injured towards the second half of the Pats game it pretty much turned a top defense into a team that allowed 29+ points a game the rest of the season and the playoffs. The special teams on the 2011 team was super until they lost Ginn. The special teams in 2012 was not even close. Add the fact that the 2011 team set an NFL take aways to turnovers record . The 2012 teams ratio dropped by 19.

    You say that Alex because he had a solid team around him was a better QB because he didn’t make mistakes. Well starting with the rash of injuries on offense and then defense the Niner’s by the second half of 2012 were by no means a solid team. The decline of the team via injuries and age actually started in mid 2012 . In 2013 Crabtree was lost to injury, Walker was lost to free agency and except for Bolton falling into their laps the WR corps was the worst in the NFL. Manningham and Willians who they counted on were never the same players. V D was injured for many of the games as well. Anyone who compares Alex Smiths projected effectiveness based on his play during the 2011 and early 2013 season is not considering all the change’s and variables that transpired.

    Grant — You talk about people having short memories, bu then you go and make such a stupid statement based on lack of historical perspective in relation to the differences when Alex was successful and the team that actually existed starting with the mid 2012 season.

    Alex value relied on field position, defense, and a lot of field goals. All those things were negatively impacted by changes in the later team. There were also other mitigating factors that I won’t get into, but the ones I have stated should be enough to convince any reasonable person.

    You are doing so well, so why did you have to make such a stupid statement.

    1. Alex Smith’s passer rating was 104.1 before he got injured in 2012. He always was a better quarterback than Kaepernick. Kaepernick benefited from the read-option boom of 2012.

          1. Gollum (er, Sebbie). Let it go Sebbie. Your Precious is gone, left you for a woman.

      1. Sorry Grant, but I beg to differ. Alex has shown to be a game manager. Kaep is a game dominator.
        .
        Look at the NFCC Games. Alex was 1-13 on third downs and threw one pass to his WRs. He had 2 chances to win the game, but failed because he was afraid to throw a pick.
        .
        Kaep spotted the Falcons 17 points, then stormed back in a furious comeback to win the game. He was 2-6 on third downs and completed 9 passes to his WRs.
        .
        I was tired of Alex not winning the big game, and getting to the SB. Someday, he will learn to run the hurry up offense without huddling, and while Alex has surrounded himself with talent, he has not won a championship game in KC, either.
        .
        Kaep has not won it all, but at least he made it to a SB, was 5 yards from winning it and one pass from returning. Sure, when Baalke dismantled the team, Kaep was left with drek, but that just emphasizes the point that he needed better support.
        .
        So, IMHO, Kaep is superior to Alex, and while Alex is a good QB, Kaep is better.

        1. Sebbie is Gollum. Sebbie… You remind me of the fictional character Gollum from the Lord of the Rings. Your ‘Precious’ is Kaep. You are so smitten by him that your mind is twisted–badly.

          You need to snap out of it, or fall into a roiling pool of lava… You choose.

              1. Sebbie, you forget that just like AS, Kap didn’t win the big one either! And when he had an opportunity for redemption, he choked!

                BTW, what decent QB spots anyone points and expects to win? That is not a virtue in a sport!

                You are a funny fellow using arguments that should get you thrown to the curb as if they were a winner! Hilarious!

              2. Reading IS fundamental. I did admit he has not won it all. I also said that at least he made it to a SB and was one pass from returning.

              3. Reading is fundamental Sebbie…read my entire post, which is why yours is a non sequitur!

      2. Were any of the facts that I stated wrong? Would field position affect what type of QB. would be more effective. You are basing your rational based on the team Alex had around him in 2011 and early 2012. The question is if he would have done as well with the team that the Niners became. We know how Alex did when he was playing on a bad team. Just look at his record before 2011. Would Smiths passer rating have been as high if he was forced to make plays and not just play it safe. Gore was pretty well worn down towards the end of the 2012 season due to his over use because of the absence of Hunter. With the defense giving up 29+ points a game and injury to Aikers Smith would not have been able to play conservatively and rely on field position and scoring via field goals and still win. Whether it was because the league had not caught on the the read option or not, the fact was that the offense rode Kaeps legs into the playoffs and Superbowl.

        You mentioned Aikman as the type of QB that Alex could have been. In some respect that was true. Except that when Dallas line aged and they lost their skill players as well, Aikman stunk up the place. He was only great with a great team around him. The 49ers team went south just like the Dallas team did. Alex was just fortunate to get out while it was still on top. Stats don’t mean anything unless put onto context. Troy was not recognizable as the same QB after his teams decline and neither would Alex have been. Alex has already shown what he plays like behind a bad team. I do agree that with a solid team that Alex would be an asset. However the team starting in the middle of 2012 began to decline and continued that process each succeeding year.

        I always thought you were intelligent and that is evident in you video’s when you are allowed to define your perspectives in greater detail. Yet your statement about Alex reverts back to a simplistic statement based on the assumption that the Niner teams of 2011 and the succeeding years were the same. I believe that your intellect can only kick in when you stop attempting to defend your preconceived perspectives. I think your analysis of Shanny in respect to his being conscious about his inexperience. Good insight! Often we see in others the very traits that we possess. I think that might apply in your case as well. When you stop attempting to defend your preconceived perspectives you have great insight. But when you defend your past opinions, you reflect a serious block in respect to objectivity.

        1. Will, Grant has his perspective, because if he had my perspective on Kaep, he would be treated like I am.

          1. Nope. Grant isn’t delusional!

            He may be obtuse but at least one can have a conversation without his calling your football chops to question every time or your intelligence! He doesn’t resort to veiled insults and can take it like a man!

            Sebbie always needs a binkie! As your latest me as victim post proves!

            1. East, reading is fundamental, and now I guess you rip me for criticizing KS, then in that last post, you rip KS and call him a choker. Please be less hypocritical.
              .
              If you think that Kaep intentionally told his defense to surrender 17 points, you are not as bright as I thought you were.
              .
              I did not tell how I have been treated, but you assumed a lot, and filled in the blanks. Talk about delusional.
              ,
              Now you are accusing me of being mean and vindictive, with veiled insults. Maybe you should read some of your ‘Friends’ posts about me. Those are not veiled, they are overt, and some spew expletives, so when I defend myself, they whine and cry about how mean I am, when in actuality, my measured responses have been less proportional to their hate and vehemence.
              .
              Like I say, you sure like to dish it out, but sure cannot take it. Re-read your post. You are the one playing the victim card.

              1. Boy you are dumb. I called Kap a choker not KS! There is such a thing as tounge in cheek but that is lost on you, as your reading skills are those of a semi-literate buffalo!

                You underscored my post with your sophomoric self indulgent reply. Try harder Sebbie. You are losing your edge!

          2. Grant wouldn’t care if he was treated like you. That is not why he has his perspective. One thing about Grant he doesn’t care about the status quo. In his own way he has a degree of integrity. He just suffers from one issue that sneeks up and often blocks his objectivity. To bad because he has a lot of potential.

            1. Will, you are correct, and Grant has his share of ad hominem detractors on the other sites, that seem to bleed over here at times.
              .
              And you are correct, he seems to have a thick skin, and does not care that they attack him.
              .
              I guess a blogger needs to be objective, and not have preconceived perspectives, but that is his job to state things to engender a response.
              .
              For instance, His stance on Paxton Lynch is unambiguous. He thinks PL is a horrible choice compared to Siemian. A more objective blogger would also point out his positives, but Grant dwells on all the negatives. That is his style, and I appreciate his bold assertions, even though the blog archives will point out he was dead wrong about many things. However, objectively speaking, Grant is right about many things, too.

        2. Just one more thing. In your video’s you go into detail and end most of your observations with either a direct or indirect statement that you could be mistaken. That is a visible reflection of being unbiased and open minded. Ironically when you make terse undetailed statements it reflects you have already made up your mind and are not about to change your perspective. A sign of an un-objective closed mind. These diametrically opposed attitudes from the same person. These type of things usually have an emotional cause. You might want to consider this. This type internalized conflict will hinder you from reaching your potential.

        3. You make good points about the defense falling apart in 2012. It’s possible neither Smith nor Kaepernick could have led that particular team to a Super Bowl victory. But you could make the argument that Smith could have led the 49ers to a Super Bowl victory in 2013. How many turnovers did Kaepernick commit in the NFC championship against the Seahawks?

    2. The value of a safe conservative QB who relied on field position would be negated by the decline in special teams, the decline of take away’s to turnovers , the decline in the defense along with Aikers career taking a nosedive. All those things either contribute too or make conservative play an asset. Kaep never had the option to play it safe.

      Look I am not trying to defend Kaep. I am just trying to keep things objective, which you and many other posters refused to do. Now in this very video you mentioned that Taylor was wide open on one play but because Beathard was under pressure could not get him the ball. Wow! An admission that pressure impacts a QB’s ability to hit open receivers. Now I never heard that aspect even mentioned when it came to either Gabbert or Kaep. Not that I am saying they were better or even equal to Beathard, only that QB’s shouldn’t be held to a double standard depending on our own personal agenda’s.

      Except for this statement , I do feel you come across better in your responses on video. Probably because it allows you to expound on your rational. These video’s show that you have reasons for your perspectives and that is what I believe makes people more receptive. Explaining your rational goes a long way to convincing people to your perspectives. You also after each statement put in an addendum that expresses that you are not totally locked into your perspectives. That is something you never did in writing. This gives you opinions far greater credibility.

  11. Harbaugh is freaking Epic. Miss the frothing at the mouth, the tantrums, throwing stuff. I love Harbaugh! However, a more “Walsh like” brain is what we’ve needed. Steve Young, “The rest of the NFL, Green Bay, The patriots, are out there winning superbowls with OUR system, that we’re not even using.”

  12. So I rewatched the game and things didn’t look so bad on second viewing. A few things to note however:

    Brian Howyer- looks better on second viewing but still needs to improve.

    Carlos Hyde- didn’t do well but that’s because of…

    OL- couldn’t get the holes to open up. They got pretty much man handled. This also affected Hoyer imo

    DL played pretty well overall but it really makes me question the picking of Thomas who seemed overwhelmed each time he was in the field.

    LB played well also and Bowman and Foster played particularly well together.

    The DBs also played pretty well with Reid playing at a very high level. Robinson had some good stops but also made some mistakes. So most of the challenges are procedural.

    What really killed the team was the penalties and turnovers.

    1. East Coast– That is often true in sports. When we watch as fans we tend to see things though a perspective of our own preconditioned bias. What we think we see and the reality are often far apart. I try to think of myself as objective, but on re-watching sports events I often recognize that watching live distorted my perception.

  13. Grant, when you said the Niners must stop the self inflicted wounds and unforced errors, you just made my day! Now, if only you had said they shot themselves in the foot…..;p
    .
    Nice picture, btw. Keep up the good work.

  14. Grant since you’re hooked on periscope, a few more hints
    You’re showing your self less close up GOOD! keep it that distance, easier on the eye.
    I wont mention the back ground.
    Shirt was good! no distraction.
    I wont mention the back ground.
    still looking down, get that tripod going, you want to look straight at the camera. a mic would be nice too.
    OK I wont mention the back ground, but can you just take the ‘art’ down so it doesn’t distract and makes me wonder who would make something like that!

  15. Pro Tip

    Write your bullet points on a large marker board and place it behind the camera somewhere so you don’t have to constantly look down at your notes. Good job though. Cool to see you building a portfolio of footage. It can only help your brand, and it’s cool to be here as you breathe life into another dimension of your public persona.

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