49ers doomed by play-calling

This is my Tuesday column.

The Bears and the Cardinals and the Broncos and the Rams are not defeating the 49ers. Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman are defeating the 49ers.

Before the season started, if you had known the 49ers’ defense would rank second after eight games without NaVorro Bowman and Aldon Smith, what would you have expected the Niners’ record to be? 7-1? 8-0?

If anything diminished the Niners this season, it was supposed to be the depleted defense. But it’s playing better than ever. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio is a genius. His defenses carry the Niners every season.

Jim Harbaugh built his reputation on the back of Fangio’s defenses. Never forget that.

But Fangio’s defense can’t make up for the offense’s three big sins. I’ll define the sins in a moment.

Harbaugh’s offense used to be the Mighty-Men offense. The running backs and the offensive line would pound the defense, slug them over and over, make them submit.

The backs and the linemen still are mighty. What about Harbaugh and Roman? Are they equally mighty? Or are they play-acting at being mighty? I say they are play-acting.

When Harbaugh and Roman don’t call enough tailback runs, the Niners lose. It’s that simple. Frank Gore and Carlos Hyde have carried the ball just 13.5 carries per game in the Niners’ four losses. They have carried the ball 28.5 times in the Niners’ four wins. You do the math.

Offensive linemen Joe Staley, Mike Iupati, Alex Boone, Anthony Davis, they’re plodders. Slow, top-heavy waist benders who are not built to protect a quarterback from quick pass rushers. They’re built to maul defenses in the running game.

Mighty men stay with the running game even if they think it’s struggling. Mighty men don’t panic and try to win another way, the wrong way. That would be like Mike Tyson trying to fight without throwing the right uppercut, or Madison Bumgarner trying to pitch without throwing his fastball.

Harbaugh and Roman panicked Sunday afternoon. Gore appeared to be struggling, averaging only 3.5 yards per carry, so Harbaugh and Roman gave him just 14 carries the entire game.

Gore wasn’t struggling. He wasn’t struggling at all. Harbaugh and Roman were struggling. Look at the specific run plays they called. Look at their sins.

First sin in the run game, not enough power runs. “Power” is the basic running play in the 49ers’ playbook. Some teams call it “Bob Trey O.” It’s an off-tackle run toward the tight end. The guard farthest away from the tight end pulls and leads the running back through the hole between the tight end and fullback. Some games, the 49ers will run this play 10 times. It is their high heat. Nothing fancy. Try to stop it.

Against the Rams on Sunday, Harbaugh and Roman called Power only twice, and Gore gained 9 yards total. That’s 4.5 yards per carry. Any team would accept that.

Second sin: Not enough counter runs. “Counter” is another basic 49ers’ play. If Power is the high cheese, Counter is the curveball in the dirt. Counter is supposed to look like Power at first. The running back takes his first step toward the tight end, then cuts back and runs away from him. Basic.

Harbaugh and Roman called three counter runs against the Rams. Gore gained 13 total yards on two and Carlos Hyde gained 13 yards on one. That’s 8.67 yards per counter. That’s excellent.

Third sin: Not enough wham runs. The “Wham” is when the center allows the nose tackle to explode into the backfield untouched until – Wham! – a tight end blasts him from the side and knocks him out of the way and creates a big hole right up the middle.

The 49ers’ rookie center Marcus Martin was struggling to block the Rams’ best player, nose tackle Aaron Donald. The Wham would have given the Niners and an overmatched Martin another way to block Donald. Harbaugh and Roman called it once and Gore gained 14 yards. The play didn’t count because Alex Boone was flagged for holding a linebacker downfield. Harbaugh and Roman never called another Wham.

Why didn’t they call those runs more frequently? What was going on in their heads?

I specifically asked Harbaugh why he didn’t call more Counters against the Rams at Monday’s press conference, which he sleep-walked through. Or maybe he had taken an elephant tranquilizer. He ducked my question. I wonder if he even had an answer.

I blame Roman more than Harbaugh. Roman has nothing to do when the 49ers’ defense is on the field. He’s up in that coaches’ booth doing … what?

A competent offensive coordinator tracks the runs he calls, tracks how many yards they gain and repeats the efficient ones. Disguise the runs with a shift or a motion if necessary. But call the good ones. It’s like Roman lost track of the game.

Roman doesn’t need to be clever – Fangio is the clever one. Roman doesn’t need to be mighty, either. He just needs to use his little calculator, so he can figure out which basic runs are working that day.

Roman doesn’t owe the 49ers brilliance. He merely owes them competence.

Grant Cohn writes sports columns and the “Inside the 49ers” blog for The Press Democrat’s website. You can reach him at grantcohn@gmail.com.

This article has 353 Comments

    1. Jerry Rice says Harbaugh is gone after this year. Please, please if true make Fangio the new HC.

    2. Nice column Grant, Roman is way over his head, he could not get another offensive coordinator position, unless he is sniffing Harbaugh arse. Secondly anyone think that Kaep has a learning disabilty? He appears to have ADD, dumb timeouts, dumb click mgment, and he is getting worse then better. I think when he is done with his career, the most common word that people would use is inconsistent, highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Mixing Roman who is incompetent with Kaep, is liking mixing oil and water . He does not look at film on the sidelines because he will get confused at the defenses, he let’s Roman figure it out, like the blind leading the blind.

      1. Most great quarterbacks have sat behind another great quarterback on the bench learning & becoming a student of the game. Arron Rogers spent years learning from Bret Farv, Steve Young spent years learning from Joe Montana, they paid there dues on the bench becoming a student of the game. Kapp never became a student, he panics too easily. Has not mastered being a pocket passer, why try. He secured a very large payday without paying his dues.

    3. Every coach in the NFL knows that a Greg Williams defense is going to blitz often yet there were no plays to counter. Quick slants on the blitzing linebacker side, no screen passes and I believe Roman has forgot that Gore is and excellent pass catcher. Stevey Johnson had a man to man situation against a rookie the entire game but we didn’t take advantage until the last drive and it was very successful. Roman is the worst co-ordinater in the NFL.

  1. Nice article Grant. As one of my few posts this season so far I’ll argue that they should be able to pass efficiently also with that same O-Line. They need to be able to do both. What you’re going to say next is that the run sets up the play-action pass. Well, play-action passes are even more longer developing plays than a 7-step drop play…so the O-Line needs to pass protect there even longer.

    All in all, I’m with you on coaching as being *an* issue. Whether it’s not having good plays with blitz beating route combinations or not calling them I believe that falls on Roman. Or, maybe Kaep isn’t adjusting the protection (Not the play) at the LOS? That could be a part of it too.

  2. Ever wonder why, If sports writers are so damn smart, why are they writing instead of coaching?

    1. Their goal is not be brilliant and obviously grant is not. Their goal is to get readership among a group of readers who are fans but mostly lack knowledge of the game and refuse to beLieve their lying eyes.

    2. They don’t want to be coaches. They want to write. And vise versa for coaches. Just the way the world works.

  3. This was a great article! Good job, Sir…I agree with everything you just wrote.

    I would love a more up tempo offense as well, quick 3 step throws, simple reads, you know keep the ball rolling. All this moving around and waiting until the last sec to run the play is getting ridiculous….look at Philly they have a awful Oline right now, but are 4th in the league in total offense. Do I think they have a better personal or QB then SF? Nope. I wish they would watch some of their tape! 8 sacks is unacceptable against the rams! For the love of god make some adjustments.

    1. The adjustments are COMING,when Harbs and the Offenesive Coaches Leave after this Year.that will be a major adjustment,because Harbs is as Stubborn as Singleminded,Please Baalke NO MORE EX-BEARS for any kind of coaching positions.

    2. We got rid of Alex Smith because he couldn’t throw down field. We now have a quarterback that can throw deep but Roman refuses to try to stretch the defense with at least the occasional deep throw. It is tough to run a cornerback off your route when he’s confident the route is always underneath. I have never seen a team with as much receiving talent as we have face eight men in the box including safeties with no fear of us going over the top.

  4. The offense was ok last year, but it was obvious when Crabtree got hurt, and even when he came back, the offense needed more WRs to improve the passing offense and make the offense more dangerous. So they signed Lloyd, traded for Johnson and drafted Ellington. Good job.

    Then for some reason the coaching staff appears to have decided they need to completely change the offensive game plan as well, to make use of all these new WRs. Stupidity. I think we all new the team would start using some more spread formations, but not to the extent they have been, and certainly not so many 4 and 5 wide formations. And why not try running out of the 3 WR formations more often? Keep the D off balance?

    Harbaugh and Roman keep saying they set their game plan based on what they think will work against certain teams. Well, they are clearly getting it very wrong. Instead of trying to get cute and changing their offense to hit a perceived weakness of the opponent, they need to go back to playing to the 49ers strength and make teams react to them. That in turn should open up big play opportunities, and hopefully get this offense out of its funk.

    1. Agree with this Scooter, there’s no balance within the formations. It’s not all about running/passing but rather a D has to respect either in a given formation (Other than an obvious empty set).

      1. With Kaepernick and Ellington on the field the 49ers should be able to go empty and still have a running threat.

        1. True. Or using the pass as a run game extension like NO did with Bush and Sproles. Or, even quick screen passes. Or, even bunch formations…someone usually comes free pretty quick out of those.

    2. “And why not try running out of the 3 WR formations more often?”

      Scooter,

      This is something that I wrote about last week. By my count the 49ers ran 27 plays with 3+ receivers on the field prior to the final possession, and 34 total. They ran the ball only 4 times on those plays. That’s making it way too easy for NFL defenses.

      BTW, those 4 runs netted an average of 7.75 yards.

      1. “BTW, those 4 runs netted an average of 7.75 yards.”

        You’re just making me depressed now, Jack. :-P

      2. Good observation. It’s almost as if Roman is thinking: “OMG, running out 3-receiver set works! Let me not try it too often or else they will notice.”

    3. “… they need to go back to playing to the 49ers strength and make teams react to them.” Hear, Hear!
      —————
      There’s a fine line between taking what the defense gives you and continually allowing them to dictate what you’ll do. Roman often loses sight of that…

      1. Someone help me with this. We are on the half yard line and we call a sneak. The center is new and has had trouble several times with the under center snaps. He is up against a packed goal line defense witch a more stressfull situation. As soon as he snaps the ball he is blown backwards on a play calls for a surge. Why would anyone call that play knowing their personnel. Hand the ball Gore or a fake and a keeper. Roman is a loser!!!!!

  5. Don’t always agree with you Grant but you’re spot on here. Seems like they lose track of whats effective and are trying too hard to be mutli-dimensional. When a game is a grind it out kind of game, like the one Sunday, you need to stick with whats effective and not get too cute.

  6. Dear God,

    I just agreed with each and EVERY word Grant just wrote! It’s frustrating as hell, and the players are frustrated. I tweeted one of the starting O-linemen, asking him why Roman called 3x times as many passes as runs, when running is what the Niners do best.. he didn’t respond, he just favorited the tweet.

    The Seahawks just won a freaking Super Bowl power running and playing great defense just last year, i’m sure that’ll still work.. except the Niners can do it better, because the Niners can make teams pay with the playaction pass if teams try to put 8-9 men in the box because they’ve got 4 1K receivers on the team. The Niners can still pass out of the spread formations, because they can also run out of them.. you can run out of any formation you like, just as long as you’re doing it on this team.

    46 passes to 16 runs is RIDICULOUS! I love Harbs, but if he can’t see this.. it’s time to go. Every time this offense has ills, they go back to the run, and everything is okay.. I don’t understand what the hell they’re doing! It worked their first 3 seasons, seems like they’re trying to desperate to be what they’re not, and it’s costing us games. If Harbaugh is worth a damn, he makes it stop and gets back to “Bo ball”! Whether it’s Gore this year, or Hyde next year.. the Niners need to maintain a 50/50 pass:ratio to remain success.. it’s what made them elite, being physical by RUNNING THE BALL!!!

  7. Kapernick should also burden alot of the blame. He hasnt progressed as a quarterback and he does a terrible job of managing the game. It seems like he is always fighting the playclock every single snap and does not have time to read the defense. Could it be that Kaepernick is just a very explosive, gifted athlete but he doesnt have the mental capacity to play the game right?

    1. Froze. I agree with you. For some reason many fans refuse to believe what stares them in the face. The O line has been decimated with injuries and a hold out and Kap is not progressing. He plays like a deer in headlights. Gore is slowing down and not the man he was. 3 years in a row we made it to the playoffs but couldn’t get over the hump because we needed a passing game. Unfortunately it appears that kap doesn’t have the ability to learn from his mistakes.

      1. Froze/Jerry: There is so much wrong with this team. For one mostly everyone recognizes the offensive line is a big problem yet some of you are always trying to find any rational you can to blame it on Kaep. Jerry- Decimated by injuries and hold outs. Early on that might have been an excuse but they have played 8 games already. No excuse for Boone ) hold outs. The only real injury excuse would be Martin. As to the play clock running down with little time to read the defence, most recognize that is the primary fault of the offensive system. Calling the plays in late and not all the players always know what the play is so adjustments have to constantly be made on the line. Jerry give the deer in the headlights thing a break. That mantra has been over used for quite some time now. It seems that every one of your ( Kaep hater’s) posts are always the same. Generic hasn’t progressed, can’t read the defenses, doesn’t go through progressions, deer in the headlights and has antsy feet. Here people are trying to come up with various critiques on a team that seems to be in free fall on all levels and you clowns still try to tie the bad line play and bad offensive schemes onto Kaep. He doesn’t make the right adjustments at the line of scrimmage. He must also be responsible for Isis and Ebola. Surprised that hasn’t been brought up.

          1. It does if you try to pin every problem on him or focus on his errors while ignoring more blatant bad play by other players. As in respect to the horrible line play and bad scheme that the previous posters try to spin as Kaeps fault. Staley needs to shut his mouth. His play has been horrible. You can not use scheme as an excuse for getting beat one on one. I think they have been allowed to take it easy during the last couple of training camps and very little action in preseason games. They needed to have their assses kicked instead.

            The K. I could also criticize aspects of Kaeps game but they would be reasonable specific criticisms and not generic repeaticious nonsense. When almost every post is focused on Kaep criticism and every failure to execute a play gets spun as Kaep being responsible. There are breakdowns by someone almost on every play. The success of a play is a composite of all the players and the play can still succeed with less than perfect results by each individual. It is relatively easy by taking an individuals play out of context to give the appearance of fault in a plays failure. It’s the old loss of the nail in respect to the loss of the kingdom analogy. It works to explain causation but much more happened than the loss of the nail that resulted in the loss of the kingdom.

            The same is also applicable to football. In retrospect we can always see better choices that we could have potentially made. This is what the Kaep haters focus on. It could have been done better. Well it mostly always could have been done better. The thing is no one is always perfect. Put a lot of less than perfect performances on a play to gather and you have a failed play. Yet they focus on the less than perfect aspect of Kaeps play and put the blame for failure on him. That is when they are being specific. Mostly they are not.

  8. note to Coach Harbaw:
    after watching the Niners
    against the Rams and the Broncos,
    and the Cowboys back on week #2,
    everyone we face from here on will
    be smelling blood in the water.
    Start looking for a tourniquet, fella.

  9. I typically disagree with Grant 90% of the time… This time, I agree 100% with every point. I think the biggest problem is OC, O Line and QB in that order. However unless Aaron Rodgers becomes unemployed you can do alot worse than Colin and I don’t think there are 10 qbs better than him, he is in the second tier…. I think Roman is by far our biggest problem. Maybe less Halloween candy and more time preparing for Greg?

    1. OMG what does it take for men to finally get the point and accept it and deal with it??

      The biggest prob. with your team is Kaepernick. Do you think you’d be having that problem with Andrew Luck or a half-dozen other QBs. I watched that game last night and AL was amazing. Just the command he has over his team and the knowledge of the defense. I’d take him over Wilson in a heartbeat.

      And I believe your locker room probs are mainly caused b/c Harbaugh continues to support Kaepernick when most of the players know that Kaepernick is the problem.

      1. Mary, my initial reaction to your take was, why not just accuse the O-line of purposely missing blocks so Kap can get sacked because as you say; ” Harbaugh continues to support Kaepernick when most of the players know that Kaepernick is the problem.”

        But with so many stories of some alleged issues in the locker room this season, its hard not to believe that something is amiss at 49er central.
        I’m still a CK7 supporter and believe that the offensive issues have been present from the opening game against the c-boys and not all the issues are solely his.

        There was a strong case just a couple of weeks ago that showed that he was actually the offensive MVP leading up to the Bye week. I can’t put our recent decline all on him like many here are doing.

        Here’s another thing that still lingers in my mind. Why was the team (the topic was vehemently denied by the 49ers brass, but still cloaked in mystery) looking to trade Harbaugh to Cleveland for a high draft pick last Winter?
        Again, given so many reports of locker room and Harbaugh/Baalke unrest its hard not to believe that something is going on.

        One thing is certain, we will find out the true identity of this team in the next couple of weeks.

        1. AES thanks for your good post. It’s amazing how both of our teams have declined since last year. I blame ours on PC/JS and the PH debacle. We could have resigned Tate and others. Oh well. Maybe once you get Boman and Smith back and return to your running game the picture will improve. I’m just hoping every NFC team below us loses. Haha. Good luck! sort of.

      2. Mary, I agree that if Andrew Luck was the QB this offense would look better. That’s what a great QB will do for an offense (and yes, despite still being relatively inexperienced I rate him as a great QB already). Unfortunately getting an Andrew Luck is not that easy.

        1. Scooter ditto. I haven’t read the article yet but Charlie Casserly of NFL says Luck is the best QB in 40 years.

      3. Mary: You know I have always supported and will continue to support your right to post and express your opinions on this site regardless of your being a Seahawk fan. However that will not keep me from criticizing your content which in your last post borders on stupid and arrogance.

        For someone who is not even a fan and therefor does not follow the 49ers to the extent that a fan would, you have some pretty strong opinions about the problems with this team. You make your statement ” Kaepernick is the biggest problem of this team” which is your opinion and you are entitled to that. However then you go and project your opinion onto the majority of 49er players. Very stupid and arrogant. Unless, of course, you took a poll. What makes you think you can speak for the majority of 49er players. We have a lot of irrational 49er fans but none to date have even made such an outlandish statement as that. You put your foot in your mouth so deep that you are now probably able to use it to sit on.

        1. Willtalk: I hear and accept your criticism and I freely admit I’m still learning. Sorry if I stepped on anyone’s feelings. But stupidity knows no boundaries where fan bases are involved.

  10. Fangio also has something to be blamed on those loses. When Niners can’t rush the passer make it easier to find open receivers. Many fans are gonna say they don’t have most of their playmakers (Navorro Bowman,Glenn Dorsey, Aldon Smith and recent inuries of Brock and Willis) but look what the Arizona Cardinals are also doing without their top defensive players (Dockett,Washington,Abraham plus Peterson and Campbell going in&out from injuries).

    Fangio needs to fix the old ways or better find new ways to make more pressure as a team. Justin Smith is the motor of this team but you can’t carry over the whole team on his shoulders. Also they need to rotate more the linemen because Smith and McDonald are playing the entire game and Niners supposed to build a depth chart in order to keep DLine fresh for January while it looks like is gonna be a problem to get into the playoffs like this.

    Another thing is Niners has a “predictable” record since Harbaugh take charge as head coach specially on 2012 when he had 2 wins streak followed by a lose and 2014 season has the same pattern with 3 wins streak followed by 2 loses.

    1. “When Niners can’t rush the passer make it easier to find open receivers.”

      And yet despite that the team continues to allow very few yards through the air (Broncos game aside), and has generated turnovers. The secondary has been outstanding.

    2. “Fangio needs to fix the old ways or better find new ways to make more pressure as a team. ”

      “Making” pressure is like making babies. Easy to conceive (yes, even while sitting in front of a keyboard), but hard to deliver.

    3. Omg. Now we have even turned on Fangio. I don’t recall seeing him on the playing field. Stupidity.

    4. Hey hector

      The niners had the #2 defense going into that game against the Broncos. WTF are you talking about. There is NOTHING worse than being a defensive player and your offense can’t put up points.

  11. I have supported Roman through the last couple of years, and have liked most of the games called this year. I have wanted to see some development of a screen plan developed over the years, but we have been moderately successful on offense and give a pass on that. This Sunday was the exception………. if they are blitzing, and they know Gregg Williams is going to bring pressure, have a counter plan. Get Kap on the edges, have screen passes and quick outs……….. we wouldn’t be this bitter had they called Crab’s td a td or if Kap didn’t fumble, but now all of this is under a microscope because it hurts so much.

    I won’t give up faith on the season/playoffs just yet, but I also won’t shed any tears if Harbaugh goes to the Raiders and takes Roman with him- just leave us Fangio. I think Bowles will probably have first crack at most job openings this offseason though, my $.02

    1. @diptown no it still would not fix the UNDERLYING problems with the Offense,this lost is a blessing in disguise,it has got the organization to hold Harbs and Roman feet to the fire and also preparing for the NEXT coach,because Harbs has mentally checked out already…He is just still here physically going through the motions him and Uncle Cheesehead.

        1. Jerry– HA Ha ha. You are calling someone else out for evidence in respect to an ignorant statement. Your statements are not even ignorant rather just blatantly stupid.

  12. Well written article, thanks Grant.

    I think in addition to the valid points you have written, that the 49ers are wasting Kaeps potential at the moment. We were scaring the crap out of teams when we were using the Option runs, long TD’s against the Jets, Dolphins, Rams, Saints and of course that Packers playoff game in his first year or so. He has a truly unique ability to make throws on the run, no other QB can match his abilities there, yet here we are, watching him struggle in the pocket getting sacked and flustered, does he need to improve in the pocket, yeah sure, but it will never be the skill that separates him from the rest. When he came in for that first start against the Bears on that wonderful Monday night it was truly an eye opener, the way he was hitting receivers in stride, floating touch passes to frank in the flat, just playing football. Instinct Football. since then it’s like Jim and Greg have been slowly trying to squeeze the instinct out and replace it with the poised Peyton Manning like performance type. Nope, never gonna work. Apples and Oranges. There is an Irish Rugby player called Brian O’Driscoll, he was probably the best at his position in his generation (YouTube him if you think I’m lying, while your at it, YouTube “rugby hits”, you’ll like what you see.) I was reading an interview he gave to the BBC recently, and one section really stood out to be relevant to Kaep. Here it be.

    Myth 2: Work hardest at your weaknesses
    It makes logical sense: if you want to be the best in the world at what you do, you should hammer ceaselessly away at the parts of your game where you struggle. Except the most capped player in the world, the most complete centre of his generation, believes the opposite is true.

    “Practise things you’re good at,” O’Driscoll says. “Keep on top of things you’re not so good at, but be world-class at your best. Never think, I’m very good at this and that, I can leave those for a bit.

    “What do you remember about Jason Robinson? His feet. Not how improved he was under a high ball or his kicking skills. Everyone remembers those feet. He could go round you in a phone box.”

    O’Driscoll always had a supernatural ability to see what others could not in the split-second chaos of a match. His reaction was to do even more analysis.

    “I put more speed into my brain,” he says, simply. “Understanding myself, where I could take shortcuts; understanding the opposition, and what they favoured, whether they had habits.

    “I’d do a minimum of an hour, hour-and-a-half the night before a game. I wrote notes before every match, and I always wrote them fresh. No matter how many times I’d played against someone, I’d bin the last lot and start again.

    “I’d take one of the pads from the hotel room I was staying in and I’d write them all out. Before we got on the bus to the stadium I’d go through them. Sometimes they’d come to the game. Take in the information, see the patterns.”

    In Leinster’s 2009 Heineken Cup semi-final against great rivals Munster, he was able to pull off a critical intercept try because he spotted the tiniest kink in Ronan O’Gara’s pass, a little double-pump that he – not even O’Gara – knew signalled a long miss-pass.

    “That’s the kick that I’d get – reading a pass, reading a step, knowing it was coming. Getting a turnover because I knew a guy was going to be hit up the middle off a play.”

    Lets exploit Kaepernicks STRENGTHS now, not try and shoehorn him into a template he doesn’t fit into, and hope it turns out ok.

      1. If they don’t they should do him a favor and trade him. I always questioned the QB whisperer moniker they put on Harbaugh. They did the same with Tedford and he proceeded to ruin every QB he tried to develop at Cal. He just got lucky with Rodgers. Perhaps Jim was just lucky with Luck. Got credit for Smith when it was just everything coming together that year that allowed Alex to do better. He didn’t really do well with all the back ups he had. Most of them ended up doing better once they left. Perhaps that first year and a half was just fools gold.

  13. “Roman doesn’t need to be clever – Fangio is the clever one.”
    Something tells me that Grant is not expecting a Thanksgiving dinner invitation from Roman.

  14. So apparently after coaches review, Borland was credited by the team with 22 tackles against the Rams. When Willis comes back into the lineup, who sits – Wilhoite or Borland?

    1. Gawd I hope it’s wilhoite…. He is not a hustler. I’ve watched him play soft on certain plays. He refuses to hit holes with speed and it looks like he thinks because another teammate has his hands on the runner the plays over. He plays well only when Willis or bowman are doing those things. Other wise he is not a leader on this team. Not even close.
      But I’d bet wilhoite gets the start. Willis will be very busy covering Graham. He is going to kill us. Can only hope smith comes back. But it doesn’t look promising right now. I didn’t think they would win this game anyways. And now it’s a must win. They win this game and I don’t see them losing again. And if they do win it will be because harbaugh got em back or they are running the ball again. Tbd

      1. I hope Borland remains in the line-up too. He may make some rookie mistakes, but he gives tremendous effort and gets to the ball. He could be a difference maker, especially if he has someone like Willis next to him.

  15. To me rhe players are not focused and performing like they were in the last few years. Is Harbaugh wearing on the players or is it the team issues in front office and coaching?

    1. Something is not right. Might be the players see that Harbaugh will not be back and are just mailing it in. One thing for someone who has played as badly as Staly has the last few games he really hasn’t got the right to make many comments as to the problems on this team. Sounds like he is trying to justify their own bad play. You can not blame whiffing blocks and getting beaten like a cheap drum on schemes.

  16. With these whispers about harbaugh losing his players. I got to start thinking the smoke was the truth. These players are better than this. I hope you’re right Grant. Because if this is the case it would be easier to go back to the old way of punishing defenses. If he’s lost this team, there isn’t any coming back from it this deep into the season. Hopefully the “back to the wall” mentality will hit these guys. Where’s the leader? Where’s Gore? Where’s CK? Who’s going to be the guy try rally around? Harbaugh is going to have to sell out and get this team back. Sellout meaning get them back into the winning way of thinking. Try something different. It’s obvious this team isn’t playing for their coach. That sucks.

    1. I`m of the mind that if the 9ers loose 2 back to back games ld like to see Harbs Fired along with Roman…and start the new coach search early.

    2. Ninermd, CK is no leader and that is the problem. Harbaugh has wanted this team to be all about CK, but the other players are not following him, at least not the stronger, experienced players who don’t care so much for the look at me, I’m so cool attitude. Veterans are sick of pretending

  17. Completely disagree, the problem is 100% execution. As pointed out yesterday if Kaepernick makes a semi-decent throw to Crabtree at the end of the game none of these conversatios would be happening. The offensive line struggling to do it’s job is execution not play calling. The QB turning the ball over either in crucial situations or repeatedly is execution and not playing calling. We now have at least two losses this season that are a direct result of the QB either turning over the ball or executing poorly or both. I haven’t seen a loss yet that still wouldn’t have been a loss if we had a different HC and OC.

    Stop protecting Kaepernick and direct the blame where it belongs.

    1. Agree with you quite a bit on the execution point Coffee, but Kaepernick is not the only one who failed to execute.

      1. Jack its exactly like it was when Alex was the QB. The same thing is occurring. Passes are dropped, penalties, missed assignments, offensive line not performing, play calling, the only real difference CK tends to throw down field where as Alex threw short. One difference is you don’t hear too much about route running.

        1. They also blamed Alex for taking too many sacks and not throwing the ball away. They also issues with the clock as well. It is just easier for people to dump it all on the QB. QB have subpar games but if a team is solid in other respects they can take up the slack and still win. This team rely’s too much on Kaep having good games every week so when he doesn’t and they lose then it is easy to put the blame on him. Again some of it is breaks and refs calls. They made bad calls at the end of both halves that cost the team the game. They also made a bad call on the forward progress stopped fumble by Gore that might have cost the Rams a TD. I guess there is a reason why fan is short for fanatic. Fanatic meaning devoid of reason. It’s evident on these sites.

            1. Dang, gotta stop posting while doing other things. You were probably alluding to the direct the blame comment.

            2. Coffee,

              I’m not disagreeing with you on the lack of execution being a problem or the fact that Kaepernick deserves some blame in the loss. I just don’t think he deserves the amount that some want to put on him.

              The loss boils down to execution (Kaepernick, O-line, Andy Lee) and some interesting play calling throughout the game which many have pointed out well before this latest blog piece.

      2. Heard this on this morning on 95.7 the Game. It’s the podcast with Peter King.

        If you love Kaep, and you know who you are, you may want to ignore this. Peter King breaks down why there should be concern over how Kaep executed the Sneak. Note: this is not the first time Kaep has failed to take care of the nuances of the game. Why we can go back to last year in the Saints game, when he failed to stay in bounds to make the team burn a time out.

        http://media.957thegame.com/a/98852252/peter-king-says-49ers-can-t-assume-to-be-in-playoffs-at-10-6.htm

        1. I don’t give a rats ASSSS about Peter King. Those people have their own agenda’s and are far from objective. You tell a lot about yourself when you lock your self to someone’s behind and opinion to make a point. Don’t you have two eyes? I know I do. Now that sneak might not have been executed to perfection but it started of with a blown snap. If there was a problem that would be the first to focus on. As to lack of perfection in execution the same thing could be said about any play that does not work. The one thing forgotten is that he did and was over the line before the fumble happened. It was obvious from the front view where he was when the fumble occured. If it was called correctly the fumble would be a non issue. We should all know by now that we have to expect calls like that but it still is a factor to be considered. Of course to simple minded individuals it is always easier to place all the blame on one factor/individual rather than considering all the variables. Especially if that one individual is someone we conveniently have an issue with.

          1. I would say you have your views on Kaepernick and you’re set on them, and anyone who offers any point of view that different, you’re not going to listen to.
            That’s cool. My eyes told me Kaep was lost, had no answers most of the day, was frustrated and has not learned anything about managing the game. Same reason we lost in the SB, the NFCCG, and a few other games, he doesn’t do the little things.

            1. Lol pot meet kettle.
              You have some nerve talking about someone set in their ways over ck. Ha ha

              And you need a guy who never watches this teams outlook to tell you that ball wasn’t snapped right and he fell over the line before it came out. Smh

              1. Ninermd,
                Seems like the way KAEP played on Sunday was the QB I thought he was. Go all the way back to my posts, and what do I bring up? He’s inconsistent and can’t make a pass to win the game. Even Ted Robinson said Kaep has to make that pass to Crab, it’s an easy touchdown.
                Turns out he can execute a QB sneak either.
                Niners lost 4 games this year. He played a pretty big role in the loss to the Bears and Rams. What more is there to even discuss? Just like he played a big role in the loss in the SB and NFCCG.

              2. Fansince77: Correct thats how you see it. Watching sundays game Kaep looked ( to you) like the QB you thought he was. He is going to reflect your image of him because your mind was made up before the fact. You need him to be someone to blame everything on in order to justify your projected hate. If Kaep wasn’t available you would have to find someone else. As I stated before Kaep isn’t important. The issue is that the standards we set others are the standards we ultimately have set for ourselves.

              3. willtalk,
                I can also psychoanalyze you on how you constantly defend Kaep.
                Based on how you defend Kaep, you blame everyone else but him. It’s Roman’s fault for calling the Sneak. it’s the refs fault for not giving the TD to Crabs. It’s Goodell’s fault for making the ball too slippery so that’s why Kaep dropped an easy snap.

                I’ll quote Brent Jones, who had this take on Kaep’s attitude: Stop being defensive. Make a play.

              4. Fan… Ok the pass to MC wasn’t a TD. Although he had the ball over the line and forward progress was taken away…..You know what kills your image on here?
                Your valid points about ck are overlooked because you are always negative about his play. It’s always laid at his feet as to why they lose. If he had a good game you find something a thread of negativity to diminish it. The only conversation you are able to have is what ck does wrong. Limited and one sides opinions and outlooks will get you nowhere on here. Good luck with that though.

    2. Coffee, its easy to blame execution for the failings – if every offensive player executes the play perfectly then every offensive play should work. But that simply doesn’t happen, as you have 11 defensive guys trying to disrupt the play and prevent the offensive players from executing.

      One important way to make it easier on your offensive players to execute the plays is to keep the defensive guys off balance so they react a touch slower and can’t disrupt the execution of a play as quickly. At the moment the game plan is making it pretty easy for defenders to diagnose and disrupt the play.

      1. Sorry, that came off a tad condescending and I didn’t mean it to. I appreciate you understand all of this Coffee, just trying to highlight that the coaches and the opposing defense play a part in the successful execution of a play.

        1. Certainly Scooter, I realize I’m coming off as a Kaep hater and although my patience has run just about out I wouldn’t call myself that. I do however believe that we’ve been in position to win and his errors have directly led to losses. This is also how I see our SuperBowl loss and the loss in the NFCG last year. Sure the whole team, coaches included made mistakes but we were still in position to win until Kaepernick choked. He choked yesterday when he couldn’t throw a good pass to Crabtree and then choked again by fumbling the ball and giving up any chance of being able to win the game.

          1. I’ve seen improvement in Kaep’s play this season, but I agree to a point Coffee. I’m still on the fence about Kaep’s future prospects. Big time players consistently come up big in pressure moments. Kaep has been spotty in this regard at best, even if you spread the blame around.

              1. Maybe. From the looks of it there was a LB in the passing lane when Davis came open, and if he had lofted it the safety may have had a play on the ball.

              2. Thanks. I don’t think it would have taken too much loft to get it over him though. That was the only other throw possibly open on that play.

              3. Jack, I’m not sure – Kaep has a tendency to rifle the ball in there. And if he gave it a bit of loft I think the safety at least has a play on it.

                Claude, good pick up (I believe it was Hyde actually).

              4. If you’re goin for the td..Lloyd had space ..Kap could’ve faked to the right.come back to the left Bam! If it’s the easier completion check it down to Hyde..The coaching staff hasgot to preach take the easy completion..not every throw has to be difficult..live to fight another down..set up the next play in good down and distance..

          2. You focus on the plays where you say he choked while completely ignoring the fact he was a main reason they were in position to win to begin with. Same thing happens with Fan and a few others who pick out the easiest target and fire. Same reason it happened to Smith before Kap took over.

            I get it, the QB is the most prominent player on the field and gets the most attention, but this is the ultimate team sport and a QB cannot succeed if he doesn’t get the support around him. If the Oline is letting people come free to the point the QB is facing somebody in his face as he is taking the final step of his drop, I’m not sure what you expect him to do. It’s either you don’t care why something doesn’t work, or you just need a scapegoat.

            Kap has made mistakes, no question about it. The Bears game was a train wreck for him in the second half. Fumbling at the goal line was ultimately the nail in the coffin. He still moves out of the pocket too soon at times and throws bullets when he should be throwing nerf balls. He should be criticized for those things and when he isn’t playing well, but there needs to be a standard of reason when looking at the struggles of the offense.

            3 weeks ago Kap threw for 340 and and put 31 points on the board against the same defense he played on Sunday. He didn’t turn into a scrub in 3 weeks and forget how to play. The obvious difference was the protection. There was none, and a QB is not going to have a whole lot of success if he can’t trust his protection. It’s like that with any QB at any level.

            Every week I come in here and read people dump on the QB, just like they did with the previous guy, and I’m sure fans around the league do the same with their QB’s. I challenge all of you to dig deeper. Learn about the game, the cause and effect of success for a QB in the game of football. I’m not trying to be a condescending jerk here either. I just see black and white opinions that seem borne out of ignorance for the game along with frustration, and based solely on Fantasy, easy to digest football mentality. The game is played and won up front on both sides of the ball. If you get dominated on the LOS you lose more often than not. The Niners were dominated on the Oline and lost. This is not hard to see if you stop focusing on the QB for half a second and look at the odds of completing passes while knowing your Oline cannot stop the rush.

            This offense is dependent on the Oline getting it’s game together and the team rediscovering the physical style that made them successful in the first place. Until that happens it doesn’t matter who the QB is or who the Coaches are.

            Rant over.

            1. Rocket,
              Some will always be impressed by some of the things that Kaep can do. It’s exciting to see a TD on a broken play, or a rocket pass. The problem is that because he touches the ball on practically every offensive play, he has to do all the things, even the the small things that aren’t highlight plays.

              In the Rams game, if he had thrown for 400 yards and ran for 200, it doesn’t change the fact that he bobbled the snap, and still tried to score. He didn’t the the situation of the game. The team had a time-out. Fall on the ball and kick a FG. But he’s not wired that way. He always wants to make a play. He rarely throws the ball away, he scrambles around and then gets caught from behind.

              These little things matter and cost the entire effort of the team.

              This is nothing new with Kaepernick since he was made the starter. Do you see any maturity in how he leads or manages the game?

              I’m not a hater. I’m a skeptic or cynic. The more I see, the more doubt I have he will figure it out this year. I hope I’m wrong.

              1. Fan,

                I’ve seen improvement in his game yes, but my expectations for him are not as high as some others around here.

                I’ve wasted enough time and space stating my views on Kap. At some point people just need to agree to disagree.

              2. Rocket,
                Let’s agree that the Offense is medicare all the way around and every player on offense has a contribution to why it’s average. And we can disagree on who plays a bigger role, which is a moot point and solves nothing.
                So putting all that aside – -what is the way forward? Is is all Roman or the players? Do you abandon Kaep’s passing and just to run Gore to the ground? Do you think they should go unconventional with the offense?

                Would you rather has Geep Chryst as OC?

            2. Rocket, by far the best write up of yours that I’ve had the pleasure of reading. I’m up in my chair clapping.

          3. CFC, that’s where I think you go wrong. You are correct about Kaep being wrong in the NFCCG. He threw the ball 3 Times. Rumors that he audibled out of a run, a couple times. As the HC/OC you tell your QB come hell or high water you hand the ball off. That’s where I blame the HC/OC. Tell him to hand the ball of, or better yet call run plays in the redzone. Especially inside the 5. When they do shotgun its not Kaep fault Roman calls a pass play. Kaep DESERVES blame but no where near the amount you want to put on him.

            1. I can guarantee without any doubt or hesitation that if we had handed the ball off to Gore and he had been stuffed the whole group would be blaming Roman for not passing the ball. Fact.

          4. CFC: Your patience has run out ! Who do you think you are? The GM or owner of the team. The reality is that what you or anyone else on this site posts or thinks means little to those that make those decisions. You post mirrors the irrationality of some fans. Stating that your patience has run out implies that you are now ready to take an action. What action are you going to take except b!tch on this site.

            You and many others are just frustrated with the outcome of something you really have no input or control over. The result is frustration and anger. That anger needs and finds a target, any target. Usually it’s a convenient one. In this case for some it’s the QB when in reality the problem is more complex and expansive. It is actually very unhealthy to get emotionally too involved in something you have little control over. The anger that is released in the case of ” your team” is not only the frustration with the team but also all the piled on repressed anger that could not be vented in other area’s that we are frustrated about. It is not that difficult to differentiate between those that use sports as a healthy outlet and those who have boundry issues. That’s what the term hater is in respect too.

            1. Congratulations on taking one sentence completely the wrong way and expanding it into 226 words that said absolutely nothing.

            2. When we use something as our outlet for other frustrations then we lose all objectivity. The outlet is essential as an outlet so reason itself plays no factor anymore. We blind ourselves to the issue that surrounds the subject because it serves another purpose entirely. Haters need to hate something so the rational for hating the object they hate is irrelevant. Sports fans are basically acting on emotion so it is an easy outlet for that sort of dysfunction. So stupid reasons can be justification. Like he wore a dolphins hat and he kissed his bicep.

              1. the k—-Opinionated! I usually define my opinions. Some of you respond with simple generic statements.

                Coffee for closers– I did probably put some spin on that statement you posted and for that I apologize. I used that statement to make a generalized point about the perspectives that a lot of fans have in relation to the players and teams that they follow. That type of perspective leads to a lack of objectivity and makes something personal that we really have no control over. My point being that if you lose your patience what can you do but b!itch on this site. Are you going to quite being a fan and get another team? The actual reality destroys the illusion we fans like to maintain. That it’s our team.

      2. Exactly right Scooter. I think that every time someone complains about “execution”. As you imply, if every defensive player executes every play, every drive would be a three-and-out.
        That’s where scheming, deception, and trickery come in and make a difference, plus the ability to make in-game adjustments. That’s the role of the coaching staff.
        Beyond that, it’s just the winning of individual battles.
        I remember seeing film of a sign the Niners used to have up in the locker room that read “I will not be out-hit at any time this season”.
        Being at the game last Sunday, it seemed like that motto was totally absent with our offense.

        1. Good point re: the individual battles. The OL this season has really struggled winning the individual battles. Its hard enough when its just one lineman losing his individual battle on a play, but this year it seems multiple guys are losing their matchup on any given play. Hard to get an offense moving when that is the case.

    3. Yet the graph shows that running the ball less loses us games. And running it more wins. The facts show that our linemen are better at run blocking, yet in our losses we pass more….. our O line is ranked 28th in pass protection. But it’s the qbs fault.
      I think prejudices are showing through.

      1. Ummmmm. It was a running play in the last game, a QB sneak. CK couldn’t get half a yard!

        BAM! Lose to the Rams. 13-10. What about that piss poor pass to Crabs? Seem like he had plenty of time to throw? Was it the O-Line’s fault the pass was lame?

        All these shiny new toys with all these wrs and somehow it’s still not enough for Colin to rise about being a middle of the road QB because now he needs a better O-Line. You think the KC line is any good?

        1. When was the last time you saw gore get a 1 yard TD on the goaline? Again you are so blind you don’t see these punches coming. Your boy Prime needs to toss the towel in for you. I still haven’t gotten your answer as to who you’d rather have as the qb.

      2. Bayareafanatic; I think the team is caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. Sure stats show the team wins when it runs more. But as was pointed out ( purely common sense ) in some other articles it is another matter as which comes first the chicken or the egg. When a team is in the lead and in control they tend to run more to wind down the clock. The line man in the past have been better at running the ball, but for some time now they have given the RB very little to work with. As has been pointed out the key is how well they do on short yardage situations. They have in my memory consistantly failed. They just can not get enough push up the middle. The last four times they tried with the RB they have been stopped for either no gain or lost yardage. The Niners just do not have a short yardage back who can push the pile if there is no hole like lynch.

        I think they have been going with the pass and Kaep because his athleticism potentially can mitigate the offensive line’s flaws. Of course that does not always happen ergo the INCONSISTENCY that is mentioned by detractors. It is good line play that creates consistency not an individuals athletic play. It seems the team has relied entirely too much on Kaeps athleticism this year. I also think that Gore’s ability ( which is now happered by age ) has also made the line appear better at run blocking than it ever was.

    4. CFC
      While poor execution is a factor for sure it is not the entire reason (100%) for our struggles. You said that if CK executes the pass to MC then the point is mute. But is it? if the final score was 17-13 in our favor no doubt we would be feeling better but our O would still be down in the dumps. We could cross off the dreaded “havn’t scored a 4th Q TD” but overall all our issues would still be everpresent. The 46 passes to 16 runs would still be there, the “identity crisis” of having a power running team that doesn’t run for power would still be there. Calling 3 times as many passes as runs when your O line is strong at run blocking but weak at pass blocking would still not make any sense its that it wouldnt sting as bad as it does now.

      Finnaly EXECUTION is achieved by REPETITION/PREPARATION at practice. When you have “poor execution” it is ussualy tied to “poor preparation” and when you are coming off a bye week where you had extra time to prepare that fault is ON THE COACHES

  18. Three things (other then play calling) might be hampering the run game…

    – Loss of Hunter. Hunter got 5+ YCP in 2012 and was looking great in camp. Gore and Hyde are power runners. Knowing this allows defenses to focus between the slots. Hunter was the sole back that threatened sideline to sideline. Roman could call any play in the 49ers arsenal with Hunter on the field, including the sweeps they were working on all summer. If defenses overshot a gap, Hunter had the ability to take it the distance (the way Gore used to).

    Sans Hunter, the 49ers are running over-specialized formations. Its either 2 TE, 1 FB formation… or the spread. This make the offense too predicable.

    – A hurt Vernon. The running game has always relied on Vernon’s crunching blocks. I think his injuries are greater then the team lets on.

    – Gore’s secret injury for the last 2.5 years. Some games he can run 20 times… others only a handful of carries. When Gore retires, we will find out exactly what the issue was. Oddly, he’s fine with contact, but seems shot whenever he rips a long-ish run. (I’m guessing a hip issue.)

    1. Note: Hyde can win wide and/or bounce outside, but he’s not the home run threat Hunter was.

    2. Gore secret injury for the last 2.5 yrs?? Gore can only run as many times as they call plays for him. There is no mystery injury. It comes down to playcalling.

      1. I’m convinced Gore has an on/off mobility issue.

        Backs often have to leave a game to recover after a long run, but with Gore long runs seem to remove him from the game all together.

        Ironically, he takes the pounding of pass blocking and short inside runs very well. He only seems to disappear after he rips a long one.

        The weird abandonment of the run goes back to last season. Remember the Colts game? 7+ YPC in the first half. Almost no runs called in the second half, by a coaching staff that’s been obsessed with running going back to Stanford.

        If I were a betting man, I’d lay one on a yet to be disclosed mobility issue with Gore going back to before last season.

        1. Interresting! Someone is thinking. Might not turn out to be right but still a viable theory.

  19. The 49ers are now in a weird playoff pickle. They lost 3 NFC conference games.

    11-5 will be very tough. What about 10-6? So who are the likely 10-6 tiebreaker candidates? Not Dallas and Philly. The 49ers beat them head to head.

    This leaves Green Bay, Detroit and Seattle as the main competition for wildcard tiebreakers. Tough because the 49ers have already lost 3 NFC games, and they don’t play Green Bay or Detroit.

    10-6 could mean playoff elimination. Either way, New Orleans will be a virtual playoff game.

    1. Brodie: I’ve been studying this the last 3 days. You’ve got Detroit 6-3 and Green 5-3 (Lions have the most difficult schedule to me: Miami, Cards & Patriots, Bears 2 & GB) They may drop significantly. Except their defense is allowing least points only 15.8 PTS/G and GB 23.9.

      Eagles have injured QB; They play Dallas 2, GreenBay, Seahawks, Redskins & Giants (all NFC)

      Dallas: Good team but injured QB: Eagles 2, Giants, Bears Colts and Redskins. It could be a walk in the park except the Eagles.

  20. Grant you may very well be right but you can’t be sure untill the O line improves about 75%. With the O line being the worst in the NFL i do’nt believe any plays will work with any consistency. Games are won and lost in the trenches.

    1. OC, the line issues are huge. The biggest puzzle the last three years is the poor short yardage running. One would think a line this big could move the sticks, but they always allow penetration on those 4th-n-ones.

      1. Seems they type of run blocking they excel at does not work on short yardage when the box is stacked.

  21. Reasons why the offense is struggling:

    1. Trying to be something they’re not.
    The offense is built not only to run but be balanced in all aspects. Getting away from that doesn’t work.

    2. Execution.
    Missed assignments, dropped passes, dumb play calling…you name it and this offense has done it.

    3. Idiotic holdouts.
    Boone and Davis held out and now they’re paying for it. The only problem is that they’re dragging the offense down with them.

    4. Injuries.

    Whether it’s players lost due to injury or playing through injuries, the result has been the same. No chance at developing chemistry.

    5. The Return of the Bad Crabtree.
    Remember when everyone hooted and hollered about how much better Crabtree was when Kaep became the starter? The truth is that Crabtree was having a good season prior because he was healthy, stopped dropping crucial passes, and quit performing his disappearing act. That was the good Crabtree. Now the bad Crabtree has returned and the offense, especially Kaep, is suffering because of it. What’s mind-boggling is why Johnson and Lloyd haven’t surpassed him yet on the depth chart.

    6. Kaep.
    I don’t know about anybody else, but I’m getting whiplash from seeing Kaep light it up one game and then look like the second coming of Jay Cutler in the next game or two.

    6. Greg Roman.
    Nuff said.

  22. For the people who want to blame Kaep, I’m sure we can all agree we made it to the NFCCG & SB on Gore’s legs and the linemans movement upfront. Never did we rely solely on Alex’s or Kaep’s arm. So why are we trying now? Why fix something that never stopped working? It’s not Kaep’s fault. Why go away from the bread and butter?

    Ever writer has written about us having trouble scoring touchdowns in the redzone. It’s been happening for years. We run down the field, get to the 10, and go shotgun. How is that the QB’s fault?

    1. 49ers run/pass ratio through first 8 games since Harbaugh took over:

      2011: 246/209
      2012: 239/218
      2013: 267/200
      2014: 231/265

      1. Looks pretty simple to me. If Gore gets tired, Ride Hyde. These guys want to ball feed them. Run them into the ground.

        Thanks for the stats Jack.

      2. Jack could the difference in ratio be due to the fact that we have trailed in many more games than the previous 3 years?

  23. What if the “rift” between Harbaugh and Baalke is because Harbaugh wanted to draft a new QB and Baalke refused. What if after last year’s NFCCG Harbaugh had decided to move on from Kaepernick. Baalke being a far less impulsive personality put the leash on Harbaugh and wouldn’t let him dump the QB so soon. Impossible? Isn’t that what he did with Alex Smith? Harbaugh acted like Alex was his own son until he had a QB he liked better. What if Harbaugh had a QB he liked better then Kaepernick in the draft and Baalke told him “no!”

    If I’m wrong and the team is completely committed to Kaepernick then why did they sign him to the deal that they did? That wasn’t a “we love our QB and are committed to him long term” type deal it was essentially a series of one year deals.

    We know Harbaugh isn’t a touchy feely kind of guy, if he feels he could win more with a different QB he’s not going to stick with Kaep for sentimental reasons. Wouldn’t you imagine Harbaugh wanting to leave if he couldn’t get the QB he wanted? I can.

    I’m not saying this is what happened but If it turned out to be true It wouldn’t surprise me either.

    1. C4C,
      Conspiracy theory much?
      C’mon C4C, you’ve been burning the ol’ midnight oil on the CK hit squad since Sunday evening.
      At this rate you will be joining forces with Fan77 by Friday (lol).

      1. I took a break for the better part of today, recognize.

        The theory was just fodder for conversation, something that I could see happening but don’t necessarily think IS happening.

        1. I always wondered if the staying with the hot hand was unanimous.

          I thought the opposite. Harbaugh, who seems like a risk adverse guy, would stick with Smith. He was also a player and would abide by the “You don’t lose your job to an injury sentiment.”

          I thought that Baalke wouldn’t want to pay Smith if they won the SB with him, and would rather go cheap with Kaep for a few years. Make the switch. We’ll trade Smith for picks in the off season.

          Smith was and is a game manager and they thought that Kaep’s strengths in other areas would make up for his lack of game manager skills. And eventually he can learn the game management stuff based on his wonderllic score. (BTW, i wanna know where Kaep got his Wonderllic test, did he buy them in a back alley or amazon?)

          And when you see the contract that Kaep sign, you gotta hand it to Baalke, That is a management friendly deal. I wonder if the players are actually souring on Baalke and management. I mean, who actually signed a good deal on this team?
          Bottom line this is York’s team and didn’t we used to think of them as cheap owners?

          1. Holy Garbonzo beans! Who kidnapped Fansince77 and is posting using his name? Some original idea’s stated here that might explain quite a bit if it turns out to be true. That team friendly contract sure does set a low bar for contracts. Both Boone and Davis’s holdouts came right after the fact. ??????

            1. Will
              Remember though that they gave Boone more $ to appease him. And the team friendly contracts extend all the way back to staley and willis, not to mention bowman (who is probably happy he signed when he did seeing how he is injured now and no guarantee for a monster pay day coming later)

        1. Yup, especially those who have their sight aimed on CK.
          We all know that CK has been inconsistent, but to put the teams offensive woes totally Kap is completely unwarranted. When CK has had enough time to throw he has done well.

          Getting sacked 7 times in the 1st half alone is enough to make any QB a little tentative when dropping back to pass.

          Some look at Sunday’s loss (somehow dismissing the pressure Kap was under) as a failure on CK’ part, I tend to look at it as a QB that was under intense pressure almost driving the team to a last play victory.
          An argument could be made that Crabtree’ catch should have been a TD and that Kap had enough control of the ball when he crossed the goal line before fumbling, but the ref’s call on both plays will stand.
          And besides, the loss makes it much more convenient for the CK hit-squad to run rampant.

    2. LAUGHABLE… What QB available was going to lead us at least back to the NFCCG? I wasn’t on this blog during Alex Smith’s tenure. Alex Smith was the BEST out of all the terrible QB’s we tried to replace him with. I will admit I was dumbfounded when Harbaugh drafted Kaep. I was even MORE dumbfounded when they kept putting Kaep in, disrupting Alex Smith. But just like TOM BRADY taking over for DREW BLEDSOE, it happens. Kaep is better than Alex Smith. He has more upside. Give him the same amount of time this team gave Alex.

      1. Obviously Mettenberger would waltz into the Superbowl with this team but Fales could Endzone Fade us at least to the NFCCG his first year.

          1. Mettenberger is on the verge of a break out as the new starting Titans franchise QB. Don’t forget he had to make it passed Tyler Wilson first and that’s no easy chore.

            1. I’m in KY, I hear a lot about the Titans. I will not hold my breath for Mettenberger to become this “break out star”

    3. I doubt it..Kap is Harbaugh’s pick..Now if Baalke doesn’t want Kap.u mite be right..I’ll see your conspiracy and raise your conspiracy…Would if Baalke wants a new oc as well?..but Harbaugh wants to stick with Roman at all cost? can that be a source of friction too? I mean us as fans feel bad when the team loses..but I wonder what jed and trent feel about the same offensive struggles four years in a row..preventing the team going to the superbowl twice and losing the superbowl once…I wonder what they are thinking? I think the front office doesn’t wanna pay Harbaugh anymore til he wins..and the contract that kap signed..makes it to easy to move on from him..It’s not a good feeling having uncertainty at coach and quarterback..the two most important position in football..it’s scary.

      1. I agree that it could be a source of friction but I don’t see Baalke as the type to sulk or hold grudges however I think Harbaugh is. If Baalke said fire Roman and Harbaugh said if he goes I go then Baalke had to either fire both or live with them both. A man like Baalke isn’t going to pout and cause problems in the workplace because he didn’t get his way but again I could see Harbaugh doing exactly that.

        1. I agree..trent and jed tend to lay in the cut..So they are letting this play out til off season..A superbowl win can end all of this speculation..A miss of the playoffs or another playoff loss..I think the Harbaugh ends…..

        2. Coffee– Harbough and TB are more alike than you think. That’s the main problem. They do not compliment each other because the both possess the same negative traits. In retrospect they would have both been better off with other people.

  24. I haven’t posted the Blog Pick’em Rankings in awhile:

    Rocket 85-48
    Pirate49er 84-49
    MidWestDynasty 84-49
    CFC 82-51
    dlptown 82-51
    Matt 79-54
    D Rogue 78-55
    Ninermd 64-69

    1. Damn I missed two weeks. Been a rough month for me, I’ll stay true and continue to pick. Glad I got te reminder

  25. The problem is the medium. If we were all sitting in a bar having these conversations we’d be laughing and not taking anyone too seriously.

    1. Agreed. It’s hard to tell what the intent and tone is when conversing with keyboards. Hopefully nobody takes any of this too seriously.

  26. Looks like Aldon will complete all five games of his Ray Rice Bad Publicity suspension.

    Was there ever a “time off for good behavior” understanding? If yes, then Aldon must have slipped up. If not, then Aldon likely has his stuff together.

  27. So Jerry Rice thinks Harbaugh is gone. Who replaces Harabugh? Who will take over a job where they replace you after 3 straight NFCCG a appearances?

    1. Couple names were suggested on niners nation.. comments section..Kevin Sumlin from Texas a&m, Oregon offense coordinator Scott Frost..from his resume described in comments is impressive played at Stanford,under Walsh ,played under gruden,belicheck and parcells, was a qb..played special teams and safety in the nfl..so he’s familiar with both side of the ball..It posted under the niners nation topic “fangio calls bs on the brooks trade”

      1. They can either hire from within..hire a proven coach..hire an unknown..hire a college coach again..I rather they hire within or a proven coach

      2. I do not want anyone to screw up our defense. I’d rather them hire Fangio and force him to get a high powered offensive minded coordinator. Defense needs to change. The two coaches you named have defense that can get 20-40 pts dropped on them at anytime.

        1. Yeah..I don’t have a problem if fangio or tomsula is made the head coach..maybe geep gets promoted to offsensive coordinator..It keeps continuity..like walsh to seifert..these players are familiar with these coaches already..

      3. Deezybee:

        I don’t know what kind of NFL head coach Frost would make, but I didn’t see any sign that he learned anything from Walsh at Stanford. At Stanford he could run, period. He also left Stanford after two seasons and was the quarterback for Tom Osborne’s undefeated Nebraska Cornhuskers in 1997 I think he was a running quarterback there, but I only saw him play one time. Osborne probably had more influence than Walsh. I’m not sure that Walsh was very involved with team at Stanford the second time around.

          1. Reading up on tom Osborne..not a bad guy to learn from as well..I like that Frost knows defense and offense bein on both sides of the ball..

            1. I don’t disagree with you about Frost’s potential, but I wouldn’t count on a strong Walsh influence. Walsh didn’t put much into his last tour at Stanford.

              Our current coach seems to have been influenced more by his college coach and Ditka, than by his encounters at Stanford with Walsh.

    2. Three things :

      1-why do I have read 5 different blogs everyday for weeks to come across a thoughtful article. Grant you knocked out one of these a week. I want you to do more. But on many weeks it’s one more than anybody else. So many generic mind numbing reports. I don’t even have to check anymore to know what the articles are going to be.

      2- I think the 9ers organization has sold out on some level. I know all teams do to some degree as this is a business. But I think it has swung too much in this direction for Niners. Generic stadium with bunch of money making schemes. Expensive tickets. Horrible location and no longer in San Fran. Doesn’t feel right.

      3- I’ve never been so disgusted watching a game as I was on Sunday. Even during the 7 years of horrendousness before harbough came on board. The offense was disgusting. All phases of it. Run, pass, schemes, play calls, qb, tight ends. The only bright spot is Stevie Johnson and maybe boldin. We have always performed great after a bye week. I’m not sure what just happened on Sunday. Roman needs to either go or bring in a consultant for him. Red zone has been horrible for three years. It’s no longer ‘execution’ at this point. It’s foundation is bad. The run game was really creative when roman first came in board. Now it’s predictable and amateurish. I’m really frustrated.

  28. What QB fumbles the game winning score from the half yard line! Damn! No excuse for that! Period!!!

      1. Makes a huge difference. Seattle has been using 3rd Center. I believe Unger will be returning for the Giants game.

    1. I agree that a good QB doesn’t fumble the ball in that situation 23. However, a smart OC would NEVER call a goal line QB sneak with a rookie center starting his first game and being owned during throughout the game. So I can’t too much blame on Kaep for that fumble. Roman flat out should have known better than to have sent that play into the huddle.

          1. The Crabtree play call was money. Easy pitch and catch. Kaepernick didn’t execute. Did it twice on the final two drives.

      1. Yes, it was a bad call. But when the snap was bobbled, Colin should have just fallen on the ball. He never had control of it and would have been better off covering it up, calling a time-out and kicking a field goal.

        Basic game management 101 stuff. I do think the missed throw to Crabs was worse though. That might have been a similar pass in the SB, before the ill fated faded. He had Crabs in the flat twice and missed twice.

        Hopefully the team meeting got everyone on the same page.

      2. The inability to score a TD on the final drive is on Kap for the poor throw and not securing the ball on the sneak. Even if he was the victim of a bad snap or just blew it himself, he has to secure the ball to at least preserve the FG to tie it up.

        The inability to move the ball for much of the day is a direct result of the Oline getting it’s ass kicked.

        Add up all the above and you get a bad loss to a bad team and a tough road going forward.

        1. Rocket,

          Don’t read this the wrong way. I’m with you on your comment. The Offense has been flowing throw Kaep, and the O-line did not help with its poor play. There will be those days. If Kaep had a horrible day and somehow he pulled it together, you take that win. It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.

          So now the offense will flow through Gore. We don’t know if it’s going to be better or worse. We’ll find out.

          We know the Defense is holding up, even with all the injuries. But the ST is getting a free pass. No, not the Andy Lee punt. The Niners are too good a team not to overcome that, especially to the Rams! No the main difference between 2011 Niners and 2013 and 2014 Niners is the return game. Niners don’t have a threat in PR or KR.

          1. Nothing here to take the wrong way Fan, I agree with you.

            I’m not sure if the offense will go through Gore, and you really can’t stray away from the QB because you need him to make plays for you. To me it’s focusing on a plan of attack and sticking with it instead of trying a bit of this and bit of that.

            They’ve actually done pretty well throwing the ball out of the spread, but they don’t use it regularly with the exception of a drive or two during the game or if that is the game plan going in like it was in AZ. What they need to do is build on that and run the ball out of it more often which will make the passing element even more effective. Or they can go back to the 2 TE system and the play action which has worked well enough to get them deep into the playoffs the past 3 years.

            At this point I just want them to decide what they want to do and go with it instead of experimenting and looking lost at times.

      3. Good point mid. I understand you can bobble the snap. However, he got the ball back and fumbled it again when he crossed the goal line. You have to secure the ball on the score. That was the ball gane.

  29. They have allowed the 3 most sacks of all the nfl this year while attempted the least amout of passes of all 32 teams that speaks to it self. Also i watched the film of this last game vs rams on every single dropback kap had he never had 3 full seconds before someone got to him only play he almost had 3 full seconts he comleted a 15 yard pas down the midle to Boldin

      1. I think it’s funny how Fan showed up when a disgruntled Homer took off. Little Alex revenge….

        1. I was thinking the same thing. I’d bet it’s Hoffer. Same style of writing just in a hateful way instead of the defensive way. Hi Hoff!

          1. Earlier you guys were convinced that Fansince77 was DS. Now, you’re certain he’s Hofer. Why do you need to link him to former commenters?

            1. Why because those same two fools can’t move on from the past. Whether it’s Alex Smith or guys who use to be in here, they still bring it up if it’s relevant or not. I mean Ninermd still brings up Oneniner in all his long winded, Jim Rome smack off type song and dances!

            2. Claudia,
              I’d link you to a previous poster too except I can’t find another cut and paste poster that trails peoples nuts like you do….. Stat whores with no opinion of their own….. But hey, you’re original : )

              1. intheclosetfanatic:

                You’re right; it’s much better to throw out lots of ignorant opinions and combine them with homoerotic testicle-obsessed fantasies, like you do.

              2. The real issue Bay Troll Fanatic has with me is that in two years he can’t win a debate with me. It’s not because I’m right, it’s because he has nothing in his arsenal of wit and intelligence to offer any kind of counter-argument. So in true bully fashion he resorts to name calling and a so called troll smear campaign. But deep down, I think he is starting to question his own orientation, and hey there’s nothing wrong with that. All we heard about in the beginning was Colin’s LASER CANNON for an arm.
                Hey if he’s your hero, more power to ya.
                Me? I kinda like Blaine Gabbert and his ability to get a TD in the 4th quarter. Why does that make me a troll again? I also like the defense, and think the O-Line, while not playing well, can get it together.
                Bay Troll pretty much hates every Niner except number 7. If he had a choice, they should get rid of everyone, but keep that guy.

      2. Cosell really didn’t say anything to far off what we’ve been discussing here.

        He mentioned there were a couple of sacks that could have been avoided by Kap dumping the ball off which I also mentioned in my breakdown of the sacks individually, but the majority were just poor Oline play either with understanding assignments or just flat out getting beat.. He also mentions that the team really doesn’t have an identity right now which Jack and a few others including myself have acknowledged. The problems are easy to spot right now which is why it’s frustrating to watch.

        This offense is inconsistent from week to week which Cosell also mentioned and it’s true, not just from the QB play, but the playcalling and performance of the Oline. There is no consistency and that has been the case since Preseason when they couldn’t get out of their own way. It’s been a struggle and until they decide on a true offensive system that is their break and butter, they will continue to struggle and miss the playoffs.

        At this point I don’t care what they decide on, but they have to commit to it. If you want to go back to a ground and pound, play action system, then do it and don’t stray from it if it isn’t working right away. If you want to go spread, then do it, but run from those formations as well and feature it to the point you make it your go to system. The Niners just seem to be dabbling in multiple options now while mastering nothing.

        1. Rocket,
          Not sure if you heard all of the 20 minute podcast, it was something he said toward the end. Since I’m the skeptic I may take it differently then you. He was talking about how you can tell what the coaches think of some players based on what they call. It was very open ended.

          I obviously took that they don’t know what Kaep will do in a game. He’s inconsistent and is struggling with some of the easy throws, like the TD pass to Crabs.
          Kaep has never been a good practice player. He had an OK camp and did nothing in the preseason, so maybe that preparation stuff is catching up.

          1. It was open ended and we can interpret it in different ways, but it all boils down to all the pieces working in sync to have success. We’ve seen this team have success with Kap even with the warts he still has. What we’ve also seen is a lack of commitment to the running game far too often and seemingly inability to adjust to what a defense is throwing at them at times.

            Put it this way, as I pointed out in an earlier post, Kap had one of his best days as a pro against this same Rams defense 3 weeks earlier. What was the key difference in the two games? If they can protect him and not stray from the run, Kap can be successful. If they don’t, it will be a chaotic mess that will be frustrating to watch and ultimately wind up with an early offseason.

            1. Rocket

              You are right. There is enough blame to go all around, but the O line was by far the worst. It’s easy for us to say that Kap should have thrown the TD at the end, but it does not help when one has been sacked 8 times. That’s why I think Niners should have lined up and run up the gut with Gore on the first two downs. At worst, it would have had eventually resulted in a FG leading to OT.

            2. Rocket says “Put it this way, as I pointed out in an earlier post, Kap had one of his best days as a pro against this same Rams defense 3 weeks earlier. What was the key difference in the two games?
              Maybe game planning, disguising scheme? Force CK into thinking and reading defenses? How about forcing him to play within the pocket and takeaway the rollouts? That’s what defensive coordinators do Rocket. They rarely make the same mistakes twice and spend night and day coming up with ways to beat offenses that burnt them in the past.

              1. Prime,

                They dominated the LOS. That was the key difference in the two games. Scheme wise they played coverages that were similar to what they always do. I’m not sure if they blitzed more than they did the first time, but the biggest difference was they got pressure regularly with 4 and they didn’t the first time.

              2. Rocket says “I’m not sure if they blitzed more than they did the first time”
                Pretty sure they did a lot of the same and different but the fact remains, it confused a lot people on offense, especially the QB amd centre who could not audible into something different or what could work.

      3. Fan: You said something very interesting the other day. That was the game ending play where if Kaep. had fallen on the ball after the fumble and called a timeout and thenkicked for a tie.

        Kaep has had challenges like this routinely on “clock management” “how many “time outs” he has available” and his “options.” You would assume the 49ers routinely drill him in walk-thrus and that there is no question in his mind how he should respond in these situations. Apparently not.

        1. Mary,
          He has a history of brain farting, ever since he was the starter. People forgave him because it was only his 2,3,4,5,6, etc start.

          Eventually maybe this is who he is? What about calling a TO when they are trying to draw a team offsides? Classic! Dude went to UNR for a reason.

          Does it look like he enjoys playing from the pocket? I mean, strictly from the pocket, where a QB engineers a drive, where he’s outsmarting the Defense? When he completes a pass it almost looks like he’s relieved.

          Maybe they should just stop trying to make him into an elite QB, let him around and wing it, and let’s see if the offense can score more then 10 points against the Rams. I heard they averaged 27 points a game. TB got 17 with Glennon. We got 10 with 120 million dollar tattoo guy.

          1. Fan: I tend to agree with you. I think I read that Kaep. has a higher accuracy rate when he’s throwing on the run. PeteC has embraced RW extending plays but if you watched that Ram/Seahawk game the D-Line contained RW very well. The Rams are much improved version from last year. According to Cosell podcast pocket passers are on the way out.

            1. Cosell said pocket passers are out because that’s not what they are grooming in college. Then you look at Andrew Luck. The only way running QBs can work is if there are coaches like Chip Kelly, who are very innovative. People laughed at me when I said I would take Foles over Kaep to run a spread offense. Foles got hurt and if Sanchez does well, they keep him and then Foles is expendable!!!

              If Kaep has another bad game, do you think it’s crazy to try Blaine Gabbert? If they lose to the Saints, it’s over.

              1. No chance that the Eagles let Foles go for Sanchez. There is also no chance besides injury to Kaepernick that Gabbert will ever start for the 49ers.

                What’s really funny, though, is that you are discussing that nonsense with a Seahawk fan, lol.

            2. Mary says “According to Cosell podcast pocket passers are on the way out.
              Tell that to Andrew Luck, Big Ben and basically the entire history of the NFL that have demonstrated it’s still a very successful formula to have for winning.
              The NFL will never become a game of innovation. That’s why things like the read option, spread, wish bone never sustained any consistency. It has and always will be a game won in the trenches. That’s its DNA. Asking guys to block and hold blocks outside the pocket is impossible. You also now cut the field into halves and quarters which makes it easier to defend. Is it easier for a DB or LB to close and cover on 15 yards or 25?
              Sorry Cossel is dreaming and so is every one else into thinking it will suddenly becoming a wide open passing type game.

              1. That’s not what Cosell said. He was just saying that the college system is not cranking out pro typical QBs. All the running QBs are not adapting. The only reason Russell Wilson stand out is that he just has those intangibles.
                Time Kaep to step up! No more bellyaching. Lead the team!

              2. Johnny Football: TBD

                RGIII: can’t stay healthy. Why? He plays too much outside the pocket and gets railroaded!

                Cam Newton: too much me, not enough big wins.
                What else did I miss cause I didn’t read the article?

          2. Fan, you remind me of a former friend that used to drive the rest of us crazy with his non-stop complaints about his wife. No matter what we were doing — playing cards, camping or going to a sports event, the rest of us heard nothing else but how she overspent, was a lousy cook and housekeeper, didn’t keep her car serviced, etc. and how he should probably divorce her. Our only advice was that if indeed he was that miserable, maybe he should seriously consider doing that.

            The funny thing was that after she informed him that she was leaving him to be with a guy she had met on the internet, he totally fell to pieces. Suddenly, he couldn’t live without her, was going to have a nervous breakdown and had thoughts of suicide. But only his relationship with her had changed, the subject remained the same until we could no longer stand to have him around. His wife remained the only thing, good or bad, that he would talk about

            1. It took you all 2 years to catch on to what I said way back then Fan is a troll. All I can say is I told you so.

              The dbag is so desperate that he now dialogues with Mary who is a guy pretending to be a girl that cheers for the Seahawks….

              1. Prime it’s too bad that miserable s perm donor ever met your mom. It would have saved the blog a ton of misery if he would have just walked past.

              2. Lol prime sticking up for hoff… Isn’t that cute.
                Racial name calling is good for this blog, so is talking mess about someone’s wife who had cancer. You’re a peach prime. A true moron who is desperate to get some kind of friend on here.

              3. Bay Troll Fanatic,
                You make everything personal. Why am I a troll again? Didn’t you do the same thing to Alex Smith? Isn’t Blaine Gabbert a Niner? Whey can’t I root for that guy, you know, the guy that threw the only TD pass in the 4th Quarter.
                You have your favorites on the Niners. I have mind. Is there a rule that says in order to be a Niner fan, you have to get behind the starting QB? Oh wait — you never did that.
                You can may not like what I have to say about Colin, but it’s uncalled for what you wrote about Prime.
                Don’t like the discussion with Mary? Don’t read it.

          3. Fan,

            If you are insinuating that Kap was not intelligent enough to have received scholarship offers from a bigger school, I will just say I think you are wrong based on my conversations with my colleagues who had him in their classes and with former UNR coaches.

            If you are insinuating that the University of Nevada, Reno – a tier 1 ranked university – is somehow a substandard institution of higher education, then I will happily challenge you to an academic duel. Having attended both the University of Nevada and a top-20 ranked university (Rice), I can assure you that the education available at UNR is commensurate with what I experienced at Rice. Rice has better resources, and alumni form better connections, but the actual academics are not appreciably different, contrary to public perception.

            They area you seem to be struggling with is the difference between football IQ and intelligence. They are not one in the same. I will use myself as an example. I have a wealth of academic achievements, yet my high school coach simplified my duties as a middle linebacker because he said I was thinking too much about every play. Actually, he said I was “too smart for football,” but he went on to explain that he meant I was overanalyzing and thereby second guessing everything I saw. So, he gave me very specific assignments and told me not to worry about anything else. It worked well until the following year when they converted me to safety. My coverage skills were horrible, but that is a different story.

            My point is that academic achievement (and Wonderlic scores) are not predictors of football IQ. It is possible to do well at one and still make mistakes at the other (witness Steve Young, a very bright man, in his early career).

            1. then I will happily challenge you to an academic duel.

              We need to make this happen somehow. I’d pay to see that.

            2. JPN001,

              I went to a college in the Bay Area. Not Stanford or Cal. While I like my alma mater and am happy with my education there, it is not in the same academic level as either of those schools. In fact, as I went to grew up and met people from different universities, there is a stark difference between the intelligence of those who went to top schools, and the rest of us who didn’t. It didn’t mean that we were dumb, we were just not as academically advanced. There is a reason going to Harvard weighs more then other schools.

              I would say there’s a reason some players who come from some conferences. i.e, SEC, PAC-12, BIG TEN, do better when they make it to the pros.

              1. “In fact, as I went to grew up and met people from different universities, there is a stark difference between the intelligence of those who went to top schools, and the rest of us who didn’t.”

                I feel sorry for you if you believe this. And you should listen to me — I hold an advanced degree from a top-twenty school (which is ranked above good ol’ Cal, I might add), which, by your logic, means there is a stark difference between our intelligence levels.

              2. If you get a chance to have a free ride are you telling me that you would take UNR over other schools that have both top academic and athletic programs?

              3. Fan
                Do Tell me about the bastion of academics that is the university of alabamer or Mississippi (where evolution might have finally made it to the curriculum) or LSU (the harvard of the bayou) or perhaps The Ohio state university where Andy Katzenmoyer took golf and music appreciation to get by. Unless you study mixology Arizona or Arizona State maybe not the most reputable academic institutions. In fact Vanderbilt (the only SEC school that has good academics) sucks year after year. and Harbaugh became such a hot comodity because he turned smarty pants Stanford in to a good football school.
                Face the facts: at football schools the players barely go to class (FSU UNC) and they definitely don’s choose to go there because of the academics( as evidenced by most of them bing general studies majors). Otherwise there would be a ton of players from Harvard Yale and Princeton

                Sorry if I offended anyone’s alma mater but id assume those reading were not “football meatheads” and actually attended classes and got an education if they happened to attend those schools

              4. Fan
                A rather stunning rebuttal to your above assertions is provided in the book “David and Goliath” by Malcolm Gladwell.

              5. BOS
                While I agree with the gist of your comment, you may have been overly harsh on U of Az; and no I’m not an alum, but they have a few World Class academic departments. Astronomy, Geology, and Anthropology are ones I happen to know about, there are likely more.
                Ansell Adams selected their Art Department to archive all his negatives; he thought they were the best in the country.
                Of course even at Cal, a really good school, some of the scholarship athletes are taking cruiser courses. At S. Carolina the HC threatened to quit if they kept imposing academic standards on “his” recruits.
                Maybe that will change……
                just after all the DC lobbyists quit, the Pols stop taking campaign donations and the guvmint stops snooping on our e-mail.

  30. This offensive line is the worst pass protecting line in the league stick to what they do best, like Cohen said. Or get on the same page with your gm and start drafting linemen that fit the the offense your trying to become

    1. I suspect that Baalke can’t wait to get rid of Harbaugh and, deep down, he may be enjoying the current on-field struggles. If true, they need to set aside selfish agendas, learn to work with each other, and enjoy the success. This situation can be better handled by Jed York and needs to take some of the blame for letting “the inmates run the house”.

  31. Tweet I received:

    Marijuana is now legal for personal use in Washington DC. But let’s be honest, they’ve clearly been smoking something for decades.

  32. Deezybee:

    I don’t know what kind of NFL head coach Frost would make, but I didn’t see any sign that he learned anything from Walsh at Stanford. At Stanford he could run, period. He also left Stanford after two seasons and was the quarterback for Tom Osborne’s undefeated Nebraska Cornhuskers in 1997 I think he was a running quarterback there, but I only saw him play one time. Osborne probably had more influence than Walsh. I’m not sure that Walsh was very involved with team at Stanford the second time around.

  33. Amen Grant. One final, and somewhat obvious point – the threat of running the ball forces D lineman and LBs to think about gap and edge control, which slows down their pass rush. The absence of that threat only makes pass protection more difficult.

    1. Eddie,

      It sure does. Listening to the Rams D-coordinator Greg Williams and some of their players after the game, they were pinning their ears back and coming after CK come hell or high water. Roman did little to mitigate the situation.

  34. A good offensive coordinator uses deception and creates mismatches to gain advantage. The 49ers used to do a lot of that in the past few years. I haven’t seen much of that this year. Where are the exotic personnel packages, shifts and pre-snap motion, running multiple plays out of the same formation, etc?

    Roman better get his act together or this season is going down the toilet. This week’s press conference with Roman should be very interesting. I hope the reporters nail his arse with some tough, direct questions.

  35. latest Power Rankings:
    12 – Chiefs
    14 – Ravens
    15 – Saints
    16 – Niners (11 last week)
    Another list has us from 13 down to 18…

    Super Bowl odds: 25 or 30 to 1….

    Seems that we are looking at the last 8 weeks
    of Coach Harbaw’s tenure on our sideline, hmm?

  36. Question for Grant or Jack (or anyone in the know on this)… IF we wanted to move on from Kaep this offseason, would we have to flat out release him to avoid paying out the rest of his contract — or does his contract also allow for us to trade him without causing some kind of acceleration to our salary cap?

    1. Forget the salary cap hit. Who are you going to replace him with? Same question I ask about Harabugh. Kid takes the team to 3 straight NFCCG, and you want to replace him. The person you replace him with better be able to get us to the super bowl and WIN his first year. No excuses. We have the team. So who in free agency, trade, or draft is going to win the Super Bowl for us next yr? THATS the most important question. None of us will accept a step back.

    2. Sully,

      They would be on the hook for the balance of his SB which would be about 10 mill or so, but nothing more in the future. His contract is very team friendly.

      I know you are just doing a what if, but there is no way they will part with him in the next year or two. Too much potential and the contract is reasonable.

  37. We all agree that there are problems with the OL, OC, HC, and throw in Ahmad Brooks for good measure. But give Kap a pass. He is a young QB who has NOT HAD GOOD COACHING in his career. Until he does, giving up on his huge potential would be just silly.

  38. I think it’s pretty obvious Harbaugh is losing this team. He’s a fantastic QB guru and will bring your team out of futility to almost-greatness, a la Tony Dungy. But he can only take you so far. He had his chance in the SuperBowl a couple years back and failed. Only so long after the players stop listening. I’m okay with a new Head Coach in the offseason. I hope it’s someone like Fangio. It may take a few years to get back, if we ever do.

    Baalke probably needs to stop taking chances on draft picks going forward. It was really cute when we had a surplus of talent, but we’re at the point now where we need some young talent coming in to replenish the aging stars on this team.

    1. There is a lot of young talent on this team and more coming next year when a few of this years picks come back from injury.

      You can’t look at playing time and base a decision on how talented the young player is because this team doesn’t have a lot of openings for young players to play much of a role.

      Just last week we had a couple of people, Prime being the one I remember most vividly, bemoaning the fact they didn’t trade up for a CB or WR, and they instead kept their picks and wasted them on players like Chris Borland. Well how does that theory look now after Borland was arguably their best defensive player in his second career start?

      Carradine has been inactive and some believe that means he’s a bust. What they fail to take into account is how deep this team is on a Dline that only plays 3 at a time, and how the backups have to be able to contribute on ST’s which is the deciding factor in whether they are active for a game or standing on the sideline in street clothes.

      As far as Coaching goes, you are ready for a new HC and you hope it’s someone like Fangio. However what you don’t know is whether Fangio even wants to be a HC and their is also the fact he’s never been one and is not a spring chicken anymore. Matt Maiocco believes Tomsula will be the choice, and again that is a big time question mark to me because Tomsula hasn’t even been a coordinator and is a motivational guy much like Singletary was when he was hired. I think Tomsula is a better Coach than Singletary but he would need great coordinators to have success and I don’t know who he can bring in. If you have a Defensive HC, you need to hire a great OC and hope he doesn’t leave, we’ve seen this film before and it’s not pretty.

      I’d suggest being careful of what you wish for. This team was a joke for almost a decade because of bad Coaching and personnel decisions. They hit the jackpot in both areas a few years ago when they promoted Baalke and hired Harbaugh. That doesn’t happen very often and I would really hate to see the team go back to chasing it’s tail like it did after firing Mooch.

      1. Great points Rocket.

        I’d rather see Harbaugh get the big extension after this season and Roman out the door in the process.

        I don’t care what people say Harbaugh has turned this team around has brought success back to this historic team. I remember what those dark years were like and I don’t want to go back to that. We are in a funk right now, but I believe in Harbaugh and I think he can turn this thing around, whether this year or next. But I think Roman needs to go, I just don’t know who, if anyone, would replace him. Chryst is a possibility if Harbs wants to keep it in house. Or maybe he wants to call the plays himself and let Chryst continue helping with the game-planning.

        but something needs to change there, IMO.

      2. The decade was a joke because of upper management..We have Jed and Trent running the show now..I’ll take them over jed’s parents and Donohue anyday..U don’t know what Fangio or Tomsula can do..til u give them a chance….if u are afraid to fail then you’re afraid to succeed…

      3. Guys that don’t even play sure make good depth right Rocket? So beneficial on special teams that our special teams is pretty average.
        The Niners knew they would be without Bowman and Smith for a good portion of the year. You don’t think moving up an getting an impact DL or CB would have helped?
        Borland has played one good game. Hyde barely plays, Johnson average, Brandon Thomas, who’s he? Careadine, Dial, Lattimore, no where to be found!
        Between last years draft and the year before Baalke should have moved up to get that impact player not because it was the right thing to do, but because he had the resources to do it. He also should have done it because why waste talent sitting on the sideline when this team needs explosive type players who can make big plays now!
        The Niners act like they are in rebuilding mode trying to acquire more picks every year. Hello. It’s a team ready to win now, well at least it was.

        1. C’mon Prime, we’ve had this discussion. Don’t make me post the same response I gave last time.

          Whether you like to admit or not, many of the draft picks you wanted the team to give up so they could get that one “impact” player have been contributing this year. Ward, Hyde, Borland, Johnson, Lynch all looking pretty good pick ups. We’ll get a better handle on Martin over the next few weeks.

          1. Cmon Scooter don’t me point out how those backups barely play or have contributed. Between the 2013 draft and 2014 draft it only made sense to package something to move into the top 10. Baalke is not as great as people make him out to be.

            1. Fair enough Prime. Here is a challenge for you – if you had run of the draft, what would you have done in 2013 and 2014? Which picks would you have used to trade up with, and to which picks, and who would you have taken?

              1. It’s an exercise in futility because now we would be comparing players that have already played 1-2 years in the NFL. You can never look back in any NFL draft and say we should have taken this guy over that guy, hindsight.
                My point is you acquire picks to either rebuild like the Cowboys did with Hershel Walker or what the Niners did 2 years ago with Eric Reid.

              2. “You can never look back in any NFL draft and say we should have taken this guy over that guy, hindsight.”

                Huh? That’s exactly what you’ve been saying – they shouldn’t have taken X, Y, Z player but should have traded up for an “impact” player.

                The reason I asked you to outline the picks you’d give up, and the player you’d take, is because it would take a lot of picks to move up to near the top 10, like you suggest they should have, and the 49ers would have been missing out on quite a few players that are now contributing to the team. Not to mention that in 2013 they actually did trade up to get an impact player in Eric Reid.

                Its easy to say they should have done this, or should have done that, without showing how they’d actually go about it. Also easy to look back, pick out the guys that have done well, and say the 49ers should have taken those guys.

              3. Prime would have given up all our seventh round picks for a top ten first rounder. That’s the world he lives in.

          1. Never said it was. The pick could have been used anywhere there was a need. WR would have been nice.

        2. Prime,

          Who exactly do you think they should have traded up for that would be making explosive plays right now and playing ahead of a vet? Who do you think they’d have playing in place of Willis right now if they hadn’t drafted Borland? Brandon Thomas was taken a round lower than his talent said he should because he was injured. The Dline is deep and talented and is set for awhile with the young guys they have waiting behind Smith and McDonald.

          You don’t trade up and give up valuable picks just for the sake of trading up. If you can target a player you want and give up fair value, then you do it as they did with Reid the year before. What you don’t do is trade multiple picks to move up and take a player who is on par with others you can get later. Trading up into the top ten was not going to happen with the compensation it was going to take so at that point you wait and see how it falls and if you start running out of players in the slot you have them, you make an attempt to trade up for them. If there are multiple players with a similar grade that you know will fall to you, then there is no need to trade up.

          This team is not lacking talent and especially not on the Dline. They got a CB they liked in the 4th round who looks like he can start. They got a RB in the second to take over from Gore, a LB in the 3rd who gives them quality depth and a starting option if they are forced to release one of the starters. They got an OLB in the 5th who is our best pass rusher at the moment. Not to mention they have 3 good young players taken lower than their talent dictated due to injury who will be back and contributing next season and a 7th rounder who may fight for a Dline spot as well.

          A team as good as the Niners wasn’t looking to get immediate starters out of this draft. They were looking to restock and develop players to take over so they don’t fall off the map when the starters move on or retire. It’s called keeping a team in contention for the long term.

          1. Rocket pay attention. I said a combination of trading picks in 2013 and 2014, or one year or the other would have served them well. You keep looking at the players selected and justifying the philosophy of trading up as wrong. You now know who the players are and where they fit. How convenient.
            I’m saying you do trade up or trade down depending where you are in terms of winning or rebuilding.
            I could make every possible case as to a top 10 pick either this year or last year and say how it would have benefited the 49ers. That’s lazy.
            One last time, the players currently sitting, or on injured reserve make no sense when they could have been traded for an impact player. Regardless if it was Lattimore, Carridine, Dial, Thomas, etc, they had a lot of picks and still do that are serving no purpose to the goal of winning. Practice players, yippie!

          2. Rocket,
            You’re starting to make too much sense. Too many rational thoughts may blow up this thread.

            But in all seriousness, excellent post. You seem to understand what team building really means. What Baalke is doing for this team won’t be able to be fully appreciated until a couple years down the road.

            1. Yeah by then the window to win would have sailed the seven seas. You guys seem to think that winning in the NFL can happen any year. The 49ers had their rebuild, they are now winding down the road to winning. A lot of the veterans needed to win are coming to an end. A lot of people need contract extensions. The window is closing fast. Heck, we might not even make the playoffs this year, our coaching staff could all pack up and move to Cleveland, then what? We will look back and say man we had such great depth but no impact guys, just great role guys. Well those kinda guys don’t take you over the top.

              1. Without those depth guys, what would our secondary look like this year? Who would have been filling in at ILB and OLB? Who’d be playing along the OL? Who would our backup RB be?

                Lets say we’d moved up to draft an “impact” CB instead of sitting pat and taking Ward, which players would we have missed out on to get him? Hyde? Borland? Martin? Johnson? Ellington?

                Lets say we’d moved up to draft an “impact” WR instead of sitting pat and taking Ward, who would he be playing ahead of? Boldin? Crabtree? Johnson? Lloyd? And by giving up the picks needed to move up we’d be desperately thin at CB, LB and OL to boot.

                Lets say last year we’d moved up to get an impact player… oh wait, that’s right, we did. Ok, lets say we moved up to around pick #10 to get a different player. Lets say all it cost #31 and #34 rather than the 3rd to do so. Who would we get? An “impact” DL like Sheldon Richardson? An impact CB like Milliner or Hayden? An impact WR like Tavon Austin?

                Lets go with Richardson, as of the guys available he was probably the pick of the bunch (or Lotulelei). You’ve got your impact DL. He’s proven to be pretty effective as a pass rusher. He’s in the rotation at DL. So who is playing safety? Dahl? You’ve gone for a rotational DL over Eric Reid, and leave the team with a real hole at safety. Does that take the 49ers over the top last year? This year?

              2. The 49ers “window” will stay open as long as Baalke continues to do exactly what he’s done since taking over as GM: keep restocking the roster with talented young players.

                Regarding the veterans that are coming do the end and players in contract years, where do you think the replacements for those players come from? The answer is the draft. A good GM will look to the draft, where the talent is high and costs are low. So when these veterans move on and contracts run out, he’s not left standing there with a dearth of talent.

                Think of it this way, would you rather have the fanciest car or the one that runs? Sure the fancy car looks better, runs faster, and costs more but the problem is it doesn’t have an engine. Baalke is giving the team it’s engine and by doing that, this franchise will always have a great chance to run efficiently.

      4. Rocket who thought I’d be agreeing with you. I looked up Drew Brees – 1st job with S.D.Charg. 2001-2005 then NO 2006-present. He won a SB in 2010. It took him 10 years. I think Manning is similar. Now look at Carson Palmer. Someone on here said it takes 7 years (approx) for a QB to mature, maybe he was right.

        As much as I don’t appreciate Harbaugh’s communicative skills, I think the 49ers would be crazy to let him go. What he wants (in my opinion) is control like PC has. PC failed until he had final control on who was signed.

        I’ll try and pose my instinctive assessments (which I trust BTW) as questions and not statements. Thanks Willtalk I’m trying to play nicely.

        1. Mary, you are doing fine most of the time. What the Seahawks have done churning there roster reminds me of the early Walsh years. Of course Wash had some bombs too — PH being PC’s biggest.

      1. You can expect at least 2 roughing the passer call. I just hope its not on game-winning drive for the Saints

  39. Yes, both teams are 4-4, however,
    the Niners are 3.5 point underdogs.

    the Saints are 3-0 at home (we are 2-2).
    they won their last two games
    with a combined 72 – 33 while the Niners
    were a combined 27 – 55. Points (for & against)
    are telling the story. San Francisco is on the way
    to 4 and 5. (Note to Colin: step up to the plate.)

    1. It is against my better judgment to respond to the above poster, but I think we need the betting line discussion again.

      Betting lines are set by the house based on what they think will minimize the house’s chance for loss. Thus, the initial line is set not so much on prognostication of the game but on loss management strategies. Or put another way, the line is set by professional gamblers (the casino) not football analysts.

      A vital component of understanding the line is to know that after the initial line is set, the line is determined by the action (the bets placed) not the house. Many people seem to think that the casinos have experts who adjust the line based on analysis and information. This is not true. Once the initial line is set, the house adjusts it based on which way the bets are placed – in other words, the line is adjusted by the action of professional and amateur gamblers who are betting on the game, not football analysts. All the line is good for is to show a prospective bettor what gamblers believe to be the less risky bet.

      With the above in mind, let’s look at the Saints v. 49ers line. In general, when setting the initial line, home field advantage is worth three. Some home teams warrant more points for home field advantage, and traditionally New Orleans has been one of those. Most of the initial lines for this game had New Orleans as a three or four point favorite. This is consistent with what would be given for home field advantage, meaning the casinos are betting that home field advantage is enough to overcome what otherwise appears to be even money.

      Since betting has opened, the line has moved to the Saints being favored by 3.5 to 5 points (depending on the casino). What this means is that more people think they have a better chance of winning by picking the Saints. Because more bets are being placed on the Saints, the house adjusts the line to pay out less should the Saints win. The line moves to protect the house.

      1. A beautifully crafted, informative and reasoned post that can educate anyone who doesn’t understand the subject matter JPN. The person you directed it at however, is a lost cause who lives only to torment and agitate. I doubt that person will even take the time to read it which is their loss.

  40. 1) Saints at home has been one of the toughest outs in sports the last ten years. More recently, the Saints are 19-0 at home in the last 2.5 seasons with Payton as HC.

    2) Of the 49ers last 9 regular season games vs the Saints, 7 were in New Orleans.

    3) The NFL did not shorten any of (the Ray Rice Bad Publicity portion) of Aldon Smith’s suspension.

    Alot of people were happy with the 49ers schedule this season. I’m not.

    1. This one is for all the people who blame Kaep for everything. Also for the ones who love to compare Kaep’s pocket presence to Montana’s. From the mouth of the great Joe Montana himself:

      “Montana echoed other alumni’s concerns how the 49ers seem to lack an identity, adding that they need to spring Kaepernick out of the pocket more often to utilize his play-making skills.”

      Hey coaches how about creating strategies that will benefit Kaep and the team.

  41. Well now its official. Trent Baalkes salvaged title investments have come back to bite him in the butt. Lattimore is retiring. So many on here praised him for getting Lattimore. It was a bad pick then and now it remains a bad pick. I suspect the team will continue down the road of mediocrity. Baalke is no real gem. He is the face of a lot of individuals doing their due diligence. It is when he is overly enamored by a player like Lattimore that the team suffers.

    1. “when he is overly enamored by a player” … another name that comes to mind is AJ Jenkins.

      Baalke is not only replaceable, he’s up-gradable.

    2. Lattimore was a 4th round compensatory pick. They couldn’t trade the pick, had to make a selection.

      Go back and look at the draft picks that were made after him. How many of those guys are looking like hidden gems? Not many. How many are even playing?

      Easy to say they should have used the pick on someone else, but he was the most talented guy available if his knee was able to recover. And while some teams will get lucky and find players that can help them out around that pick, many don’t. Its the draft. Not every pick is a winner.

      1. Scooter says “Easy to say they should have used the pick on someone else, but he was the most talented guy available if his knee was able to recover.
        And therin lies the problem. His knee and if he would recover. It was a gamble. A pick that hey if it works great, if not, no big deal. Well then why not use the additional picks and move up. You already had Gore and Hunter and Boobie in your back field, why waste a pick on a guy who would need 24 months to recover and still not be ready. How many picks have they had the last 2 drafts on a team ready to win? I’ll tell you, way too many! You acquire an abundance of picks for two reasons, 1. If you are rebuilding and two, so you can trade up and get instant starters.

          1. I didn’t say it had to be that pick. I didn’t know it was a compensatory pick but that doesn’t natter. My point is Baalke made a big mistake on holding onto too many picks instead of moving up.

        1. “I’ll tell you, way too many! You acquire an abundance of picks for two reasons, 1. If you are rebuilding and two, so you can trade up and get instant starters.”

          Have to disagree with that statement. The overwhelming reason to aggregate picks is to increase the chance of a successful draft, irrespective of whether a team is rebuilding or shooting for Lombardi.

          Every analysis that I have read shows the draft is a numbers game. The best GMs who have drafted over several years have only a little better chance at drafting a starter (let alone a Pro-Bowl player) in the mid-rounds than the average GM.

          In the salary-capped era, having several draft picks is very important for establishing team depth and gain negotiation leverage with starters for future contracts. Smart GMs do not trade away their long-term team future by trading up for that mythical “one player who will put the team over the top” because the chances on hitting that home run is low and not worth the risk. A GM plans for a strong team over several years. It’s the coaches’ job to win games with the current team and its talent level and depth, and that’s how the coaches are judged.

      1. Rocket, good article. I didn’t realize Bowman was 91st, what a steal. I think I read once that T.Brady was 199.

    1. From what I read the University of South Carolina is going to take good care of him. From the president down to Spurrier said he has a place there. Sad he didn’t make it on the the field but as you said, wishing him the best.

    2. Feel bad for the kid :( He seems like a high-character kind of guy. But I wish him the best, and I’m glad that he says that he will always be a “49er”! Probably, my favorite 49er to never see the field.

    1. Sure I get that but the NFL and NCAA football are two completely different games now with the rules and style of play. Unless more college coaches become NFL head coaches, the running QB will not be successful in the NFL.

      1. I agree with you. BUT I think “scrambling” is a nice tool to possess to extend a play that could, in turn, get a first down or assist in winning the game.

    2. I don’t even have to read that article to know its not going to be true. There are a lot of differences between college and the NFL. Even the setup of the hash marks on the field on college field affects the offenses. But the biggest difference are the hits these running QB’s take in the NFL. It’s different than college. There will always be pocket passers unless the QB becomes far less valuable. Which I doubt as well.

    3. Why would anyone listen to a troll who can’t keep their word? What are you doing back here DS/Mary? I thought you are gone? What is your purpose here anyways? You claim to be a Seahawks fan? Liar liar liar!

  42. Thank you Grant, for finally what I have been saying for weeks, and getting criticized over, by your followers. At best, Roman is an above average OC. He always has been. They masked his limitations by running a basic, yet effective run-first offense. The same scheme that Staley was alluding to in his statements following last weeks game. The same scheme that took us to three Championships and the SB. The same scheme that enabled the Seahawks to win the SB. Only difference, their OC is exceptional, while ours is not, so we lost on the biggest stage and they flourished. Roman continually shrink at the most critical points of a game. Personally, I think a Harbaugh, Norv Turner combination would be fantastic. We have always been perfect for Turners offensive approach. Pound, run-first, deep passes…sprinkle in some Kaep runs and we’d be tough to beat. If we lose 2 of the next 3, Roman does not survive season. Just a hunch.

  43. The Lattimore pick was a gamble with a good chance of not working out. Baalke knew that. The press knew that. So did most of us knew it too. Late picks that are high ceiling, low floor make sense on teams with sparse roster spots.

    – It cost the 49ers a 131rst pick (chart value a measly 40 points)
    – The compensatory pick could not be traded
    – The 49ers had few roster spots
    – Marcus was NFI, so he never used a roster spot

    If a gamble like this pays off once every 3-4 years, its worth it. If Baalke tries the same kind of thing with an non-trade-able compensatory pick, I’m fine with it.

    Now if Tank tanks (because of a knee issue) that will be a far bigger deal.

    1. Less then 19% of players taken at 131 become 3-year starters. 4% make the pro-bowl.

        1. Value Group, Pick, % 3-year starters, % Pro Bowl

          VG1, 1-13, 74%, 44%
          VG2, 14-40, 61%, 19%
          VG3, 41-66, 44%, 13%
          VG4, 67-86, 30%, 6%
          VG5, 87-149, 19%, 4% (Lattimore)
          VG6, 150-189, 12%, 3%
          VG7, 190+, 8%, 2%

  44. Jim will stay, Roman will go. Mrs. Jim sure as heck isn’t going to uproot her family from the Bay area to live in some fly-over dump.

    “So who is it Honey, me or your OC?”
    “Uh…. you snookums!”
    “Well then, call Mr. York and do try to be nice…”

    Niners sure as hll aren’t going back to what the were before Captian Khaki showed up…

  45. Great points, good stats to support the analysis. Even if the plays weren’t as successful as they were, they fit the strengths of the offensive personnel, so they should be run regardless.

    The effect of predominantly going to 3WR and 4WR personnel is that we remove not only Gore, but also Vernon. He’s effective 1v1 vs LBs when it allows him to use his speed rather than trying to find a hole in a zone or outrun a safety. The running game will lead to better matchups for our most dynamic player.

    I love having more weapons on the outside, but that should mean we’re subbing more often and utilizing them for 3rd downs. It’s clear we’re a better team when we run more on 1st and 2nd down.

      1. Hey Grant,
        Why do you suppose the team is moving towards the current passing schemes? Do they coach from a bubble?
        All stats show that when we rush Gore, we win. When we rely on Kaep to pass us to victory, we lose. So why do they keep pushing that agenda?

      2. Grant, I’ve got a question I’d like to pose. Within the last week or so you wrote an article about the Raiders, didn’t you? How about doing a critique of the Seahawks. God knows we’ve got our problems. Thanks in advance.

        1. Grant if you even think about entertaining this trolls wishes. It’s big trouble for you Bruh!
          Takes nerve to even ask that, but what would you expect from a liar.

  46. Has anybody noticed if Bruce Miller’s blocking has regressed again ? Kevin Lynch is saying he has been pretty mediocre this year, after a great start as a rookie he had that poor year, I think that was 2012? He took on Delanie Walker’s chip/edge blocking role/assignments along with the standard fullback lead-run blocking and he has never adequately replaced him as far as that role. As far as the lead blocking, he has been a part that problem this season as well. I sure miss Delanie Walker, he’s putting up good numbers in Jacksonville considering the utter crap that surrounds him. They say he has been like a coach on the field. One of my all-time favorite players.

    1. Is he actually writing anything or just posting transcripts? haven’t seen him respond to anything in days. Guess with everything going fine with the team there isn’t much to talk about.

        1. 3 words and two punctuation points. Probably hit enter and ran off to the pub to reward himself for a job well done.

          1. Coffee, not according to Mary. Grant’s now down on the bad side of town trying to score something else to keep the muse going, lol.

      1. P.S.: Grant I did enjoy this article. CFC: He posted one comment on this post late in the afternoon. “I agree” They say it’s the postman who first knows. Just kidding.

    2. Grant allowed you to hint that he is on methamphetamine, lol. It must be love. Do you think is he smoking the dank, too? How about a heroin rumor while you’re at it!

  47. Hmmmm the craphawks win a game and this liar is back. Just like a fair weather fan. Come back after your team wins. Not only a troll, but a liar too. I wonder how many other names you used while you were supposed to be leaving DS/Mary. How pathetic

Comments are closed.