Ahmad Brooks: “Unbelievable.”

GLENDALE, AZ. — Here’s what Ahmad Brooks said at his locker after the game.

Q: It seems like the team is not the same team in the second half. Do you have any thoughts on that.

BROOKS: No.

Q: You don’t?

BROOKS. I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know, man. I have no idea. I don’t know what to tell you.

Q: Fair enough. When all of a sudden you have a lead like you did last week and in this game and all of a sudden, oh my gosh, here we go again, are you standing there amazed or is it not like that?

BROOKS: Unbelievable. You know what I’m saying? Because what happened today was kind of similar to what happened last week. They were calling a lot of penalties. If you want to blame the penalties, you can, but there are things we could have done better to help us win the game. But we started off last year 1-2. We’re in the same position right now so hopefully we’ll just continue to get better. And it starts with us. It starts within the locker room. We will all regroup and get back to 49ers’ football.

ME: No sacks today for the 49ers’ defense. What’s going on with the pass rush?

BROOKS: (Expletive deleted), man. A lot of the third-down situations were third-and-three, third-and-two. When they were running the ball on first and second down they were getting a lot of yards. They were getting like five, six yards. We weren’t able to just pin our ears back and get him. But, like I said, we all could have done something better, whether it was rushing the passer, covering the receivers, whatever. It’s hand-in-hand. It works together.

This article has 78 Comments

  1. There are so many reasons for this defeat it is hard to even know where to start. The worst part is that many of the issues were the same that reared their ugly heads last week and many thought they were fixable. I think someone needs to find that Harbaugh vodoo doll and those evil mojo curse items that were buried under the new field as quickly as possible.

  2. Keep buying into our overrated g.m……him and Haurbaugh lived off mc Cloughans draft picks..Baalke id the worst gm in the league..ourndefense is sorry and we havent won 1 game in 9ur cursed ass stadium

    1. Im sorry but you are dead wrong. It was Baalke who drafter A. Davis, Iupati, Bowman, Dixon, Aldon, Colin (even though I dont think he’s what you all think he is), Hunter, Kilgore, Miller, Reid, McDonald, Ward, Hyde, Lynch, and Marcus Cooper….these guys have ALL produced on the NFL level. Go back and look at some of the Walsh drafts in the 80s…they were horrible. Look at the Policy/Clark drafts in the mid-90s…god awful…Jim Drunkenmiller, Israel Ifeyani, JJ Stokes, Dana Hall, Amp Lee, Keith DeLong, etc etc…Look at the 1985 draft, yeah, Jerry Rice…but there were still 5 other players who did jacksquat in the NFL…

      1. Baalke has drafted some key guys clearly, but he seems to missed a lot too. 2012 was a total bust. Last year, we got Eric Reid and little else to this point. Patton? Doesn’t even play. Carradine? Can’t even get on the field. Dial? BARELY gets on field. Lemonier? Total bust. Lattimore? Worthless right now. Moody? ST only. Plain and simple. Hyde? He’ll be great. Ellington? Not much to this point. Ward? Not very good right now. Lynch? Where’d that guy go? Keep in mind, Reid was great as a rookie. I would say, our best rookie is Dontae Johnson, a sixth rounder. Anyway, I think a case could clearly be made that our last three drafts have been underwhelming. For the first time in the Harbaugh era, I have concerns.

        1. Yep, only Reid has proven himself as a quality NFL starter out of the last three drafts though Hyde looks pretty darn good. Time for the 49ers to draft immediate help rather than drafting injured guys for the future.

          1. Reid has proven that he can do three things well so far: 1) take bad angles on running plays, 2) be out of position on long pass plays, and 3) maintain a healthy ten-yard distance as he chases the opposing ballcarrier/receiver into the end zone.

              1. “class A?” Why, thank you lol. In the meantime, I’ll be waiting for Reid to make a late-game play in crunch time. Other than holds and facemasks, that is.

          1. Lets be specific…. in his second year he is a top a safety in this league. Any suggestion otherwise is a moronic.

        2. Like you said, Baalke has overall been good, however he has had some misses as most GMs do. 2012 was a waste. But his 2010 and 2011 were very good. And I still like 2013. Eric Reid has been good. As for Carradine, this essentially is his rookie season since he didnt play last year. So I am willing to be a little more patient with him. As for Lemonier, he showed promise last year, but have no clue what is going on this year. Dial was very impressive in preseason as was Carradine, but why cant they get on the field? And I honestly would activate Patton and inactive Lloyd. Gotta go with youth. As for Lattimore, I think everyone knows why he is not playing.

        3. I agree. If you look at his first round selections alone, he’s been a terrible GM… Aldon Smith – Can’t stay on the field and is heading for a lifetime ban soon.
          AJ Jenkins – Nuff said
          Reid – Only good player so far
          Ward – Looking like another bust. A first rounder should be plug in ready. He’s most definitely not ready. He would be fine as a 6th rounder, but as a 1st? No.

          Looks at the 2012 draft alone. We have one remaining player, a back up Guard. Seattle on the other hand (with McCloughans help) drafted Russell Wilson, Bruce Irvin, Bobby Wagner, Robert Turbin, Jeremy Lane and traded a pick for Marshawn Lynch. That one draft put them ahead for several years to come. It doesn’t take much to gain an advantage in this league and that’s how it happens. The Niners took a step back in the past several drafts and have been living off the talent they already had when Harbs/Baalke took over in 2011. It looks like the past few years or bad decisions are already catching up to them and will create a talent vacuum for years to come. Harbaugh will be gone next year and the spotlight will really be on Baalke and Jerk boy Jed to make something happen. We may harken back to the Singleberry years as our golden years at this rate.

    2. You are correct about a cursed stadium. Karma is a beaotch when you fleece the faithful and sell out to a bevy of corporate sponsors in order line your pockets with more money than you already need, just to make yourself feel more powerful and successful. It’s disgusting. Did York really need more money? Did he really need to raise the prices on working class fans to the point where they can’t afford to go anymore? What do you get for that? A lackluster fans base made up of tourists and corporate shills willing to spend their money in a characterless tin box in a suburban business park, dressed up as a stadium. Good luck with that. A few 5-11 seasons should fix that right up.

  3. Concussions will not be the end of the NFL. These assault cases will not be the end of the NFL. Rule changes and penalties WILL BE THE END OF THE NFL. People do not want to watch a game that is held up every 30 seconds by a referee on the field. They do not want to see a player make a clean and legitimate hit/tackle/play on the ball and then have to wait to see the yellow flab/icon appear on screen to indicate that the HUMAN REF errored and is negating what it is a perfectly fine play in football because he THINKS he saw something. The Refs need to be told DO NOT THROW THAT FLAG UNLESS YOU ARE 100% SURE YOU ARE CORRECT. They need to be fined for throwing flags on plays like the hit on Stanton…they need to be fined for throwing a flag on the play where Willis hit Stanton in the chest with his facemask, as violent as it was, because there was nothing illegal about it. I’m sorry to say but the NFL was a better sport in the 90s and early 00s. Now it is getting unwatchable and it starts with this idea that they need to take the violence out of the league. College football is more enjoyable than this.

    1. Absolutely right. I an watch three games on Sunday, see the same play and get three different calls. None of these ref are on the same page.

    2. The speed of the game has left today’s part-time officials way behind the curve. Asking them to make the proper call on too many types of penalties is way beyond their capabilities. As presently designed, every violent collision is suspect and the officials just err on the side of caution. Also the pushing, shoving and trash talk that go on should be left to the players to deal with and not be penalties. Only some act that can be seen as flagrantly provocative leading to a brawl should be banned like in other sports. What possible purpose could a rule that makes what AB did illegal serve?

  4. Fire haurbaugh!and Baalke. ..overrated ass team Baalkes wasted p8cks arencatc h ing up…hope we can beat the Lambs…dont blame this on Kap..he had a great game!

    1. Lol, a great game? He had a decent game. Wasn’t all his fault but let’s not drink the kool aid.

  5. Harbaugh ran a very successful power offense at Stanford. Why are we not doing that. We have the backs. We can play action off it the run. We need to simplify everything. K.I.S.S. Keep it simple stupid.

    1. I agree. I think we need to run everything through the run again. I get everyone thought we could have some success with three receiver sets this year but we cannot right now. Especially with our most explosive (VD) player being out. Run it down people’s throats and pass off the run.

      1. We can’t run. We have an overpaid, overrated offensive line. These guys miss entirely too many blocking assignments in the run game. Take a look at Boone today. He was ridiculous. He’s got his money. Right now he looks overpaid!

  6. I think its time we started lowering our expectations. 3 NFCCG’s and 1 Super Bowl appearance have spoiled us on the high end. Awfully tough to maintain a high level of performance. Biggest issue I see is that teams with high penalties usually are poorly coached/led. I think Harbaugh’s contract status u=is the biggest culprit and it’s feeding into the staff and team.

    1. I agree our expectations are high. BUT when are coaches do not change schemes based on personnel that is us expecting coaches to do what they get paid to do.

      We’re missing our two best players on defense – our coach seems to think it’s okay to continue to rush 4 and not get pressure.

      On offense, we roll down the field on two drives in the first half, then we can’t move the ball in the second. There’s an issue. If we truly expect the defense to not make changes, our coaches are fools

  7. It is not about the second half. It is about making a back up QB look like Tom Brady back there…about losing to a team with hobbling WR’s and a patched up O line. It is about a game plan and attitude.

    The Niners are not a confident team. They are now a team hopping to come out with a win…

  8. It’s so ovbvious to me the nfl is very unhappy with the niners for not sitting Ray down and the are punishing them there is no other reason for every 3rd down we all of a sudden can play and draw a flag , Boldin easily one of the most respected players in all the nfl says the ref’s and seeing what they want and calling what they want there’s soming to it he is out there playing so I will take his word for it

    1. Is that the same guy who got us to a first down on the Arizona six yard line with a good chance to take the lead, and then “childishly” head butted an Arizona player because he was mad about back to back 15 yard penalties against our defense. Is that the mature veteran you are referring to?

    2. Really? Let me asked you a question, Do honestly think Boldin helmet butting on anothe player is not warrant for a penalty? Geez, you guys make so many excuses, face the truth don’t put the blame on the officiating why our team loss the game. The bottom line the other team won the game, regardless because of awrong call by the refs you say, and our players actually didn’t play to their capacity in the 2nd half:-)

  9. I wasn’t over optimistic about this season, I had us at 11-5 at best and we have lost a game I had as a win…. I genuinely feel we are watching Harbaugh’s last season as coach….. The media don’t like him and when things go south they’ll enjoy kicking him, the discipline of the team is poor, and it’s reflecting on the coach…..

    Agreed we had some bad calls…. but what is Boldin thinking? This guy is a 12 year pro and he get’s involved in that way….just dumb.

    1. I’ve got a bad feeling the way the team is performing, I wouldn’t be surprise that our teams record would be 8-8, we’re lucky to win 8 games this season. I agree, it might be harbaugh’s last season as a coach of the 49ers.

  10. Bangkok I am fine with Jim getting the boot , but who do the niners replace him with that’s the question

    1. There’s a guy that runs the same offense at Stanford, never looses his temper in public, and is charming with the press.

      Oh, he’s never gotten the “most” out of his quarterbacks in some peoples eyes. It’s all tight ends, and big linemen on offense.

      What a lot of folks want is a three in a row Superbowl winning coach. Why not? It sounds great and costs those folks nothing.

      Enjoy.

    2. Ahhh… the million dollar question…. I’m not calling for his head myself, we know the relationship is not all it could be, my gut feeling is that it is going to get worse fast….. this time next week for example…….

      1. How did you know? Did he tell anyone that he was going to coach the 49ers, I’ll bet even the 49ers brass doesn’t know it yet that he’ll be coaching the 49ers:-)

  11. I’m starting to believe the rumors about locker disconnect. This is a team that has no heart. This is a team that doesn’t look unified. This looks like a team that doesn’t wan’t to win for their coach.

  12. Baalke has overall been good, however he has had some misses as most GMs do. 2012 was a waste. But his 2010 and 2011 were very good. And I still like 2013. Eric Reid has been good. As for Carradine, this essentially is his rookie season since he didnt play last year. So I am willing to be a little more patient with him. As for Lemonier, he showed promise last year, but have no clue what is going on this year. Dial was very impressive in preseason as was Carradine, but why cant they get on the field? And I honestly would activate Patton and inactive Lloyd. Gotta go with youth. As for Lattimore, I think everyone knows why he is not playing.

  13. Most of the comments above are moronic. We were missing 7 starters today and obviously players haven’t resigned themselves to the new rules.

    Calling for the coaches and gm to be fired is really stupid. We will get better as starters return and hopefully a few leaders will step forward on this team.

  14. I have already predicted the out come of this game 2 days ago and now I am predicting that the 49ers will lose again by 38-21. 49ers will be out of play-off picture by 19th of October.
    Thanks to Greg Roman.
    I don’t see either Greg Roman or Jim Harbaugh coming back to coach 49ers.
    I am stop following 49ers from now on. There is no hope with Greg Roman as an offensive coordinator.

  15. Donte Whitner, Brown, CJ, LMJ are all guys that have made impacts and we let them walk and we expect rookies and the next guy up to perform at the same level. I think Kap and Jim should watch the Hawks game and R Wilson. They won that game taking what the defense gave them, 4-5 yard passes, West Coast/Bill Walsh 101 plays, Kap believes to much of the hype, so does the Rest of our unorganized Team

    1. I didn’t see Wilson with toomany 4-5yards passing in overtime..I saw him run for first downs and hand it off to lynch..

  16. Biggest issue for me is the lack of plays taking advantage of the new passing rules. That is money we’re just throwing away.

  17. Just plain & simple: THERE’S A CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE 49ERS!!! . . This goes back 3yrs!!! I said last year that Harbaugh or York should take a fine & say it publicly! The Refs are dictating our losses & ITS RIDICULOUS!!! . . STEVIE WONDER can see that!!!

  18. I’ve been a Niner fan since the beginning in 1946. In all of those 68 years I have never seen them more un-disciplined or dysfunctional. Jed York is NOT Uncle Eddie. It’s clear to anyone with a football brain that Greg Roman is not capable of developing a pro-level passing offense. His play calling is hopeless and no amount of talking to him will do any good. Harbaugh still has no sense of time management and needs to either bring in a real OC (like Mike Shanahan) or call the plays himself. He was pretty much the Alex Smith of his day so I don’t expect much from him in that regard. It’s a shame that the Niners have brought in a talented bunch of players but the front office and top two coaches are preventing us from winning. I would like to see both Harbaugh and Roman fired and Jim Tomsula take over the reigns. He has the respect and love of all the players and has proven himself over and over again.

    1. i agree. shanahan and holmgren turned steve young ( and later farve) into a pro qb. Russell wilson manning, brady rodgers call came from non spread offenses. cam newton , mike vick kap and rg 3 came from gimmick offense. ( which group won super bowls?) if harbaugh doesnt make some changes ( see wr ol and secondary coaches) hes gone.

  19. Am I the only fan that understands the NFL is out to get the niners for not benching McDonald? That is just plain petty and I hope the McDonald issue gets resolved before the NFL decides we wont make the playoffs.

    1. I don’t wanna believe it, but I have NEVER seen a team receive so many bad calls in back-to-back-to-back games! This started in the 2nd half in Dallas.. a phantom PI on Brandon Lloyd killed a Vernon Davis play where they forgot to cover him.. and the 2 contact calls on Ward and Dahl that were absolute BS.. on 3rd downs.. to extend the Cowgirls’ drive where they got mop up TDs. Same pattern against Bears and Cards.. in the 2nd half, the refs only flag the Niners on 3rd downs when the opposing offense doesn’t convert.. when they do, no flags.

      Goodell showed his stupid face at the NYG yesterday, I guess he feels comfortable enough to come out of hiding since that sham of a press conference. Goodell is going to hammer the Niners until the suspend an innocent, this is Goodell’s effort to show the world that the NFL is serious about domestic violence.. and for McDonald to keep playing is an afront to Goodell repairing his image.

      I have NEVER seen anything like it.. I swear. Bail out call after bail out call in 3 straight games? It’s not even grabbing the jersey type stuff, it’s touching them.. in the most physical contact sport in the world.. hand touching is a flag!? If this is the NEW NFL.. it’s not long for the world. I don’t know what’s worse.. the ticky-tack penalties or the penalties that never happen(Boldin holding negating a Frank Gore 54-yd TD/Patrick Willis roughing the passer).

        1. Sandranbob…
          They do. When games are getting out of hand. Flags have been coming out more often to keep games closer I guess.
          But you don’t have to watch every team to see what six-ace-deuce is absolutely true. And I can’t argue with his McDonald punishment because I’ve stated the same thing. It’s just to weird that all of a sudden we are the worst secondary on third downs in the league. Besides who can seriously not think this league could be rigged, especially after it came out they were covering for rice an the ravens. If they cover up stuff like that for a team, why wouldn’t they have a hand in scores, And ratings? Can anyone really think it’s out of the question?

      1. Don’t you guys get enough of this ridiculous speculation over and over? What so funny is, you guys keep on whining about the NFL official going after the 49ers because of Ray Mcdonald:-)

  20. +defense

    -personnel wise: Jimmie Ward was the best strong safety in this year’s draft, he might someday be a great NFL safety, what he’s definitely not is a nickel back.. he losts absolutely lost out there. Perrish Cox came back after being gone a month, came into the playoffs and did a great job playing nickelback for us.. he was the best on the team then, he’s the best on the team now! If the Niners want to start Cox at LCB until Brock is ready that’s fine, but on 3WR sets, he should become the nickel and Dontae Johnson/Chris Cook play LCB. Ward should focus on being a NFL Safety, heir apparent to Bethea.. hone his skill there, he doesn’t have any at nickel. In 3 games, he’s given up 6TDs.. he’s a rookie playing out of position.. it’s cost us 2 games. 3 out of 4 Bears TDs and all the Cards’ TDs were on Jimmie Ward.. stop the bleeding.

    I’m sick of watching Corey Lemonier doing his best Andre Carter impression.. speed rushed right out of the play over and over and over! Time to stop messing around, Aaron Lynch is the only OLB I see that’s getting pressure and close to sacking the QB. Brooks still looks out of shape, I’d rather see Skuta and Lynch on passing downs. Why won’t they activate Tank Carradine? Even if he’s struggling with picking up the defense.. they can’t turn this guy loose on passing and 3rd down situations.. what’s there to know except: HUNT THE QB!?

    -strategy wise: Benching Jimmie Ward for Perrish Cox has to happen, if the Niners dont do that.. they are being stubborn and anything that happens after that, they’ll deserve. Jimmie Ward is a smart kid, but he’s not a cornerback.. he’s a safety. Fangio doesn’t like to blitz, but his pass rush is simply not getting there. Fangio did more blitzing in the 2nd half, and even when his guys hit the QB.. refs threw flags for hitting the QB too hard.. WTF!? Either they give Tank and Lynch a chance or they’re going to have to blitz more often.. I can’t see them continuing to do the things they’re doing, and expecting things to magically turn around.

  21. I can understand what Brooks said…it’s hard to pinpoint one thing. It’s not Baalke’s fault as some are saying…he’s drafted/acquired good players. Coaching needs to be better, player execution’s inconsistent…Fangio has to come up with some different ways to get a pass rush. I like the WR sets, but not forsaking the run. The penalties are stifling…some are bad/questionable calls, but too many are just careless/stupid. Lest we forget we were 1-2 last year, too…time to get all hands on deck.

  22. Brooks plays very undisciplined. I saw 2 neutral zone infractions in a row from him that were not called, and he did this more during the game. He doesn’t get it. I never see any coach chew him out. Harbaugh is not the cerebral type of coach that will adjust during any given game, nor are his assistants. Harbaugh needs to control himself at the sidelines to set an example for his players. If they were a disciplined team, these past two games still could have been won, even with the referees trying to through it.

  23. Could someone please explain the concept of disguising a blitz to Vic Fangio? On almost every blitz, it was clear we were blitzing pre snap. He called a play or two that looked like a blitz but weren’t, but that’s not the same as disguising a blitz. And don’t get me started on GRo. We don’t need to teach him anything; he just needs walking papers.

    1. If our defense doesn’t play well the 49ers lose the game. The 49ers offense cannot carry the team our defense in the three season had carry the 49ers team. Kaep is not capable in putting our team on his back, if kaep can’t run the offense is doom:-)

    2. They didn’t always blitz when stacking the line or “showing” blitz. It wasn’t the calls it was the execution and penalties every third down. The defense played well on first and second downs. And IMO most third downs. The huge problem was secondary breakdowns that cost two TD’s.
      But feel free to fire away and GRO. Although IMO he called his best 3 quarters of football I’ve seen in awhile.

  24. Sorry bit in my keeping it real comment I’d like to say….
    This is the wrong guy to ask these questions to.
    1 you come in fat and out of shape
    2 you must stash donuts in the opposing players helmet, because some of the inexcusable penalties have been your hands to the face penalties.

    He’s right to a small degree. Yes you can’t blame everything on the refs, but you can blame a pretty big chunk of penalties on yourself. His penalties are no doubters. Period. Get hungry again Brooks, and I don’t mean hometown buffet hungry.
    Very disappointed with him this season.

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