Jim Tomsula on the 49ers’ offensive line: “That group there’s steadily moving.”

This is the transcript of Jim Tomsula’s Monday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers’ P.R. department.

Opening comments:

“First off, we’re going through the injury stuff right now. [RB] Carlos Hyde has got a leg contusion. He got a helmet there right behind the pad on his thigh, but I think that’s going to be fine. He did get hit in the head yesterday. He was cleared during the game. He went through the NFL’s protocol thing, or however they do that with the onsite person. He was cleared, but I just didn’t want to put him back in. [TE Vance] McDonald, he’s got a, they’re saying a contusion. There was no, it was X-rayed. There was no break or anything. It was below the knee, so he got hit there. [TE Blake] Bell took the, he got hit, he got tackled in the back there, came out and he went back into the game. He’ll get some treatment on that. And then, [WR] Torrey Smith was another contusion. So, everything was more bangs then it was anything else.”

 

Do you expect any of those guys to miss any significant amount of time?

“Not right now, I don’t. I don’t, I guess the one that was, that we’ve got to really look at is McDonald. But, we were glad to find out, I think it was more or less he was on the field.  So, I don’t think so. But, we’ll have more for you as that goes on today.”

 

What is WR Bruce Ellington’s situation?

“Ellington will continue to get treatment. We’ll find out where he’s at. I just didn’t want to, quite frankly, I didn’t want to get into the game and it be three or four or five plays and then he was done. So, he thought he could go, but we just made a decision not to push that and get into a situation where you’re a guy down.”

 

Have you see RB Reggie Bush since you came back and what’s his status?

“No. I didn’t talk to him, but he was in there. He’s doing his treatment, but I haven’t spoken to him. No, sir.”

 

It seemed like yesterday, a number, most of those big plays came on third down.

“They came on third-and-10, third-and-five, third-and-seven, third-and-two, third-and-three, and third-and-six.”

 

So, is there an adjustment to be made schematically, in terms of, were you guys maybe trying to prevent first down, keep the ball in front of you and that might have allowed them to make those deep throws and those big plays?

“That’s, you’re on the money. You just, you get into, it was third-and-mediums, is where our biggest struggle yesterday was. Third-and-medium, and you get into that third-and-medium range, making a play, protecting the sticks, you want to show a little bit of something in the box and then get out of there. Quite frankly, one was a bad angle, but quite frankly, you saw guys at the point and we didn’t, I mean, their guy made a good play and we didn’t make the play. We’ve got to make those plays. Coaching-wise, maybe we shouldn’t have them flying out of there from such a low level, but we’re evaluating all that today. It’s what we’re doing. But, all that stuff, I knew all that stuff was there. And, again, any fingers to be pointed, they just go right here. But, hats off to them for [Pittsburgh Steelers QB] Ben [Roethlisberger] throwing the ball and, I mean, they maxed up a lot of two and three man routes and did a nice job that way. Particularly in that area, in that third-and-medium range. And, we obviously knew [Pittsburgh Steelers WR Antonio Brown] 84’s a really good football player, and he made some plays that we didn’t make.”

 

Just to be clear, based on what you just said, it seems like whatever the defensive call was, maybe the DBs were a step or two just behind because they were trying to get out of formation, just keep with it? Because this is a game of inches and with players like that–?

“Yeah, well we crowd, we load the box, we crowd down, we give you a disguise and you’re third-and-two, you’re third-and-three, you’re third-and-four, are you going to throw a quick out? Are you going to run the ball? So, we show and then we get out of there and a couple of those were cover two, the end result is cover two, which is the safety over the top there. On one there was a bad angle, but other than that I thought our safeties, we got out of there and got to where we needed to be just liked we’ve done in practice. Guy made a nice catch and we’ve got to make that play.”

 

LB NaVorro Bowman, after the game yesterday, made a reference to the defense isn’t the same guys that have been here the past few years. Was youth any part of this? Was inexperience a factor at all yesterday, do you think?

“Well, again, we’re not going to, I personally, I’m not going to go there. We were outplayed, I mean, outcoached, I mean we lost. We lost the football game and all I’m talking about is own it, fix it and move on. It’s, we’ve got to. And again, in this thing, every week is an evaluation. Everybody is evaluated. I’m evaluated, I mean, the entire organization, you all are sitting right here evaluating all of us. Everything is an evaluation. So, whether win, lose or draw. We talked about that a week ago too. We won a football game and we were being crowned. There were a lot of people crowning us. I said it then and I’ll say it again, it’s a 16-week season and we don’t need to get on a rollercoaster. We need to stay, keep your head focused, lock your jaw and let’s get to work. Own it, fix it, move on.”

 

How would you assess QB Colin Kaepernick overall yesterday, his game and do you temper any of that based on the fact that a lot of the numbers came after the game was out of hand?

“No. I don’t. Again, it’s hard to, you lose a football game and it’s a game of big plays. You don’t like to say anything was good. But, Colin Kaepernick played a pretty good football game. Once again, doing the things we’re asking him to do. Getting us into the plays we’re asking him to get into. Throwing the ball well. Seeing the field. I think we had 11 different guys targeted in the passing game yesterday, 10 of which caught a pass or more. So, obviously, reading the field. Seeing the receivers, coverages. Getting the ball where it needs to go. Obviously, did a really nice job with his feet and his arm and his brain.”

 

Later in the game after Carlos went out, RB Mike Davis got some good game action, more so than RB Jarryd Hayne. Was it just a point to try and get the rookie some touches?

“Yeah. That was me. I mean, I wanted him playing. We think Michael Davis is a good running back. Just quite honestly, Jarryd Hayne does more on special teams and different areas for us than Michael. But, Michael had an opportunity up. We think he’s a good running back, young running back. We’re going to hand him the football and let’s get going here.”

 

Was Jarryd getting those first reps behind Carlos, was that a product of Jarryd being up Week 1 and maybe being a little bit more comfortable than Mike who was making his NFL debut or what went into that?

“Yeah. You’re talking about when Carlos and Jarryd were rotating through?”

 

Yeah.

“That’s just where we were with that, but Michael was going to play. There was no question about that. I wanted to get Michael in the game and we have a lot of confidence in Michael.”

 

You face another quarterback with a big arm, very similar a little bit to Roethlisberger. Is there anything you learned from yesterday that you can apply to this upcoming game?

“Yeah. We’ve got to make sure they’re not behind us. We’ve got to make plays. We don’t want to give up the big play. I’ve been here for what, nine years. That’s always been what we talk about, what we pride ourselves in. We stop the run and prevent the big play.”

 

Obviously, on those big plays, a lot of the focus is on the secondary, but you guys probably didn’t get the pass rush you wanted. How much does that play into those plays?

“Yeah. I mean, it’s a team game. We talk about the whole thing. And they had a nice plan. They’re going to max it up, it’s two and three man routes. You’ve got to keep pushing in there and it’s rough pushing. You’ve got to keep pushing and you’ve got to keep driving and you’ve got to cover deeper and longer. It’s all team. This is completely a, we have team wins and we have team losses. This is a team loss. We’re not sitting up here assessing blame.”

 

How do you evaluate the way the offensive line played yesterday?

“Up and down. There was obviously a couple of plays there that we wished we could have protected a touch longer. But, there were also some really good things. That group there’s steadily moving.”

 

Getting back to Carlos. Have your plans to utilize him been affected at all based on yesterday and moving forward with an Arizona front seven?

“No sir. I mean, you know, we’re going to, we want to be who we are and we’re going to take that into account first. Obviously, we have a ton of respect for Arizona and what they do. We’ve got to take that into account, but we are who we are also.”

 

Did Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney come in to meet you after the game?

“Yes, ma’am.”

 

What did that mean to you that he came in there?

“It was obviously an honor. It was an honor.”

 

Had you met him before?

“Yes, ma’am. I met him once before in person.”

 

Do you mind sharing just what, because I know everyone being there, your home area, so many people excited for you? Can you share what Mr. Rooney shared with you?

“Yeah. He just wanted to come down and tell me I was a good kid. Keep working, and you’re going to have good days and bad days. He kind of laughed and said, ‘We had a good day.’ That was it.”

 

How important was it for Colin to connect with WR Torrey Smith on that big play? Obviously, you’ve seen it on the practice field, but just to get it in a game is that going to help them going forward?

“Yeah. There were some nice routes. We did some things and every game, it’s lopsided, it’s a lopsided game and I’m not really into talking about all the positives, to be quite honest with you. We had some drops. So, we weren’t, nothing was glowingly beautiful yesterday. It was not a good day for us and we’ve got to get that fixed.”

This article has 370 Comments

  1. Carson Palmer, NFL Stats: 7 Touchdowns to date.

    Kap: 33 yards at Halftime vs. Steelers.

    Do you think the Cardinals will review sucessful Steeler patterns ran vs. the 49ers and use them against us with their potent WR staff?

      1. Why would the Cardinals review film of the 49ers VS Pitt game? Is that something NFL teams do?

        Du…du…du…DOY. Another TrollD post that deserves a ‘no s_it Sherlock’ award!

    1. Az does not have a receiver like Brown who stretches the field. L Fitz is more like Boldin. No, I don’t think Az mimics Pittsburg. Az has their own plays that have work for 2 weeks. They will use a variation of that.

        1. Neither Brown you mentioned is as talented as Antonio Brown. Juron Brown is the 4th receiver on that team. He is much taller at 6’2″ and slightly faster, but hasn’t translated as well in the NFL. In his almost 3 year career he has 397
          total yards, 4 TDs and 1 fumble across 34 career games catching 36 of 54 targets 66.6% AZ does not use him like Pittsburg uses brown.
          Then, John Brown who is almost identical is height and size as Antonio, lacks the hands. He has caught only 48 of the 103 targets 46.6% He has 696 career yards and 5 TDs. He is faster with a 4.34 forty and leaps higher with a 36.5″ vertical. You might remember him from dropping the wide open TD in December against Seattle. Lacks the game speed illustrated by Antonio and the game production.
          Antonio Brown last year alone had 1698 yards and 13 TDs. He caught 129 of the 182 targets. 70.8%
          So, I stand by my comment AZ does not have a receiver of Brown’s quality. Personnel matchups are much different in AZ. They create their own mismatches using Fitzgerald.
          The should be able to handedly beat SF without needing to mimic Pittsburgh.

  2. Interesting comment by Tomsula that his O-line is a group that’s moving steadily. However, he did not indicate in which direction. Yesterday, at times, in pass protection the right side of the line looked liked a revolving door during a “white sale” at Macy’s downtown SF.

  3. I was surprised at the relatively poor play by the left side of the OL, especially Boone.

    PFF has the 49ers OL ranked at #25 for pass blocking and #9 for run blocking. Pittsburgh is ranked #2 at pass blocking and #27 in run blocking. Those stats include all regular season games (which means they include yesterday). Overall OL rankings are #3 for the Steelers and #15 for the 49ers.

    1. Glad to see the Steelers’ oline ranked second in pass blocking. They certainly deserved it yesterday.

  4. I didn’t like Jeeps’ game plan. I thought he should have come out in his three tight end sets and attack the seams through the air, but for some reason he did not anticipate the Steelers obvious plan to shut down Mr. Hyde….

    1. Does Geep not have full trust in CK? Does he need to establish the run game first?
      At some point the 49ers are gonna have to come out throwing and getting away from the traditional run first mentality. It looked like the days of Roman yesterday when they were down early and had no choice but to throw. Can’t win in this league with 50 yards passing at half then 300 in the 2nd.
      Now as for yesterday, the Niners lost because of poor defensive play.
      After yesterday teams are gonna load the box and force Geep/CK to throw. Better to get rid of that early so that every team does not attempt that. Don’t want to be known as a one dimensional offense!

      1. I have no evidence to suggest Jeep lacks faith in Kaepernick. The secondary could not provide any coverage sacks for the guys upfront, and that’s a big reason why they struggled Sunday….

        1. I agree Razor. My point is trying to establish the run early is making the 49ers too predictable. As a result teams like Pitt air it out early and get up 1-2 scores. The game plan then becomes useless when you are always chasing. I’m not saying they need to become a shoot out team, but more balance early in throwing the ball keeps defenses honest!

          1. They actually had roughly the same number of pass plays and run plays in the first half, so in terms of balance you don’t really get much better than that. I think the problem is the timing of runs/ passes. Off memory, I think a large proportion of 3rd downs were passes, while first and second down were more commonly runs. If my recollection is correct, on first and second down is where they likely need to mix things up a bit better.

            1. Good point Scooter. Maybe that’s what they tried to hard to do was win on 1st and 2nd down with the run instead like you said, balance that out with more 1st down throws to start the game.
              AZ will no doubt load that box the entire 1st quarter, attack the secondary and try and get up early. I don’t think we will see too many teams play conservative against CK or our defense until we show some attack mentality.

              1. That’s where those quick hitter throws on short routes can be effective. The 49ers use the run to set up 3rd and short. But quick hitting pass plays can be used to do the same. Heck, they did it in the second half.

              2. Sure use whatever it takes but get a better “go after” mentality early. Both opening drives against Minny were excellent.

        2. I don’t think Geep lacks faith in Kaep, they are merely playing to the strengths of the team. Kaep has limitations as full drop back passer which is why they run those roll-outs.

          In the first game they ran a bunch of three TE sets and run it down the other team’s throats. Did the Steelers have enough time to plan for it, or was the MIN game an anomaly?

          1. At some point throwing early and often is what needs to happen. Forget CK’s comfort zone, have to back the defense off and play action doesn’t work if there is no push.

            1. Yeah sooner or later he has to grow up and put on the big boy points and make accurate throws and reads on a consistent basis. He’s a gimmick QB right now. The more games he plays and the little progess he makes, the more teams are not going to be afraid of his running because they know he can’t do it all game long.

              It’s a tall order to ask a QB who has bad mechanics and slow to read defenses to start picking it up but if they want to win games this year, then he will have to do some to make them pay. The 2nd half the Steelers were playing so loose.

              The game turned on the drive where Kaep goes sacked on a 17 yard loss. The DL bust up the middle he ran backwards and tried to spin away and got tackled. And then the Niners punted and Ben throw a TD pass. The very next drive Hyde fumbles the ball and they score again.

    2. I thought they should have lined up 4 receivers wide to spread them out, then quick passes or run Hyde up the middle. Maybe VD would have been uncovered like Gronk was.

    3. Just had the same conversation with my brother on why Chryst didn’t call more 3 TE sets, blending runs and play action for those seam passes.

      With Hyde, McDonald and Bell getting dinged early, Chryst just ran out of bodies to run 3TE sets.

  5. Palmer is just as dangerous through the air, but he’s a statue. Mangini better devise a way to get hits on him, otherwise it’s going to be another long day….

  6. Arizona has played two 0-2 teams. NO can’t buy a win on grass and away from that dome. And Chicago is Chicago! This might be their first real test of the season.

  7. A small consolation… the defense played a reasonable 57 snaps and should be well rested for the Cards.

    1. I agree with a lot of this. Even Lynch’s sack week 1 came against Matt Asiago. Bowman has lost lateral quickness, which is to be expected, and the O line is a mess, which we knew before. But we didn’t expect breakdowns from the left side.

      I don’t agree on the running backs. Still think they’re a good group.

      1. Grimey,

        The sack that Stakey gave up on a whiff, was because the ball was snapped on a changed count that he was unaware of. Not good, but better than a straight up whiff.

    2. All I can say about that game is adjustments the lack there of. Poor play from just about everyone. Note CK has not thrown an interception this year.

      1. This is true. This is the Kaep stat that’s worth repeating. He is taking care of the ball, and not forcing things. So far he has 60+ passes without an INT.

    3. Grant, you can’t tout them as kings one week and as bums the next. The lack of pass rush and breakdown in the secondary go hand in hand. Cubus pointed out that PFF ranks the Steelers’ oline #2 in pass protection thus far. I still maintain the short week, change in time zone, and early game affected our team speed. That plus Pittsburg’s line and elite QB made it an uphill battle from the start. I take solace in the fact that our QB played well despite the walls crumbling around him. Happy to say he surprised me.

    4. Grant

      Nice write-up here. Nothing mind-blowing, but you do make a pretty bold claim about Bowman.

      I’d like to see you mention the fact that every 49ers WR made a catch in the game, including Patton, with multiple receptions; and that 3 of the 4 TEs also caught balls.

      What does Kaep’s explosive 2nd half promise for the rest of the year? What exactly did Chryst do to unleash Kaepernick?

        1. Their still and NFL team. Not like he’s playing college ball. He threw for more yards than Brady did against the same team.

          1. But…..the game was over by then so what does it matter? Pad the stats? Stats are for losers and that’s what the Niners were Sunday. 400 yards passing or not.

            1. What ever fits your narrative Prime. It matters when you slant the stats to back up your narrative like grant is doing. I agree with the fact that we lost and just dislike how all these narratives are popping up so people can prop up their dislike of the QB. Its so dumb to say Pittsburgh backed off, their secondary is really bad and that’s why he had so many yards, its garbage time, it doesn’t matter we lost. A completion is a completion and a yd is a yd. Do they subtract all of Manning’s yds that were in garbage time from his 70,000?

              If the secondary is that bad why didn’t Brady rack up 600 yds? Its not a good argument either way. We shouldn’t draw conclusions either way until we see what Kap does for the rest of the year.

              1. There’s a lot of emphasis this year on Kaep’s progress. There’s alot riding on this season for him because he either starts to show he gets it, or we have to start looking at options.

                So far he’s managing the game. Did that against the MIN, and for the 1st half of the PIT game, he played within the gameplan. He did okay so far. What I’m not going to buy into is the 2nd half padded stats, when PIT went vanilla so it was easy for Kaep to read and take what they gave him.
                The reason for optimism is the Torrie Smith TD pass. The cause for the concern is the same red zone inefficiency, for whatever reason.
                What does matter is in the 2nd half he had 10 straight completions, and then they get to red zone, and then two incompletions. And the failed 4th and goal scramble and voila — no points.
                These are issues just like Alex Smith not throwing a TD to a WR are issues.

              2. Fan,

                What I’m not going to buy into is the 2nd half padded stats, when PIT went vanilla so it was easy for Kaep to read and take what they gave him.

                This is complete nonsense. There is no truth to it whatsoever, and you continue to make things up to further your agenda.

                He was making the right decisions and completing passes in the first half. They moved the ball on 3 out of 4 of their first half possessions before mistakes ended the drives. You are also off on your Redzone complaints. He threw TD passes in the Redzone, one was caught and one was not. The first trip into the Redzone featured a 3rd and goal from the 20 through no fault of Kaepernick.

                This is really getting old fan. More and more are realizing what you are doing here and it’s getting to the point where there will be no reason to respond anymore. When you make a comment like “the game turned on a sack taken by Kap” it shows a glaring lack of objectivity and/or awareness on your part and makes it hard to take your views seriously.

              3. It’s only getting old because you disagree. It’s my opinion. You can offer a different opinion.

                Results matter. You think Kaep was the only QB that face a 3rd and 20, or face adversity?

                These are known things that he has to work on. It”s like the only time his Red Zone productivity counts if it’s a perfect 70 degrees with a slight breeze and the sun is in the eyes of the DB.

                Would you agree that the Niners have a run oriented offense. Is this based on preference of style, or lack of progress from the QB?
                The obvious answer is it’s a little of both.

                It’s well documented that he has a slow release and is slow to read defenses. He’s alway been good between the 20’s and they here comes the million excuses on why he doesn’t get the job done in the red zone.

                Until you accept that he needs he’s a very flawed QB, has strengths but his minuses are the crucial stuff, then I’ll keep coming here to remind you!

              4. Fan,

                As I’ve said previously, I’m honest in my assessments of players on this team. I don’t go in with any preconceived opinions or personal biases. My views on Kap are based on what he does on the field in the game we are discussing. If he’s good I say so, if he’s bad I say so, but what I won’t do is make up scenarios that didn’t happen. If he stinks in AZ, I won’t make excuses for him, and if he does well, I won’t try to find anything I can to criticize. See how that works?

                You kept mentioning Redzone problems so I pointed out to you he really didn’t have problems in the Redzone on Sunday. Has he had problems in the RZ before? Absolutely, but that wasn’t the case for the most part on Sunday, and that is why you are starting to become redundant. No matter what Kap does, you find something to criticize. He played a really good game on Sunday. Yes he put up the majority of his yards in the second half, but that doesn’t take away from the fact he played well all the way through. You can’t ignore the reasons why they didn’t score more points in the first half and just chalk it up to Kap not getting getting it done. That’s disingenuous and your opinion starts to fall on deaf ears when that happens.

            2. Other than your astute evaluation of QB’s and NFL defenses what proof do you have that Pittsburgh went vanilla? They still had their starters in the game and no defense likes giving up points when they have a team on the ropes. Answer the question, do they subtract Manning’s “garbage time” from his 70,000? No they don’t because its still an NFL game where it all counts. Tp say someone is padding stats is a fictitious way to dismiss people’s effort and work on the field. These guys want to win and they hate losing.

              You forget so many of the other aspects of the game to draw conclusions. You did hear Colin say “we went to the passing game too late.” It wrecks your narrative by showing it was a coaching decision. They clearly thought they could run the ball on Pittsburgh and the coaching staff made an error there. We got beat all around in the game and I am saying this is on the coaches.

              1. Okay Wilson.

                How would you evaluate Blaine Gabbert’s TD in the Denver game last year in the 4th Quarter? It was the only TD pass in the 4th Quarter last year by a Niner QB?

                Does that weigh more then Kaep’s performance in the first 3rd quarters?
                Would it be safe to say that Gabbert was the only QB to lead the Niners to a TD in that game against a very good Denver QB?

                Man I’m not even ripping on Kaep! I just said he did okay and I’m going to get excited because he throw for 276 in the 2nd half when the game was over and PIT was play a soft cover 2.

                In the red zone, when he had chance to make some throws, how did he do? Don’t you want him to make a read just a 10th a second sooner?

                That’s the stuff he needs to work on. Obviously you disagree but hey results is what counts! Even Kaep said there are moral victories!

              2. Perfect example, Brock the back up QB for Denver was in the game and the 2nd string was in on defense for them as well. Shouldn’t that answer your question the Broncos had given up. Its a different situation entirely here. See Rocket’s post above, the Steelers didn’t do anything different but you can still claim they did.

                We’ve already discussed the red zone thing and rather than engage your response was..”I get it, its never Kap’s fault”

                How was the throw to Miller that he dropped? You’ll just ignore that or the pass protection while he was making those other throws in the red zone.

                I have never shied away from his weak areas or dismissed them. We all want him to be better and he’s playing better but he has less of a defense to work with this year. You’re marginalizing his improvement because you have so much staked in his failure.

              3. Fan if your going to trip on Colin Kaepernick every game then please just cut and paste a response because its the same thing with you every week. You remember Bayareafanatic, 23jordan, Ninermd, they did what you are doing with Alex Smith for 7 years. Please spare us.

              4. FDM,

                I’m not ripping him. Some people are just sensitive. How is saying someone play okay a slam? I didn’t blame him for the fumble, or the loss or the bad O-line? I’m just not giddy like a little girl because he threw for when it was obvious PIT called off the dogs.

                I said he was managing the game and that’s a good sign. i said it’s also a good thing that he didn’t throw any picks.

              5. Fansince 77 for the most part I have agreed with your commentary on Colin Kaepernick. The problem is throughout the offseason you said you wanted to see what he could do, what he could change, could he be a pocket passer etc,etc. 2 games in and he has shown all the above.
                There is no more sulking, no more look of despair, he is leading and its pretty clear to everyone, his game is improving. He had no help last Sunday, NONE. But he continued to play and perform at a high level.
                Garbage time stats or not, he is playing well.
                The bottom line is anything you say on here about him looks like you are hating. Your reputation has preceded you.

              6. Props to CK that he’s not sulking.
                Props that he continued at a high level, but I don’t think it’s proper to give him props for doing the standard of what every other average QB does in this league.
                My reputation last year was calling out his shortcomings, people who heckled me for it now agree that those are his shortcomings. I’m no genius, others have said the same thing on other non Niner blogs.

                Okay let’s take the good with the bad. No sulking. Played great in garbage time and didn’t give up. Let’s see if AZ respects his passing and don’t stack the box.

              7. Lame Fan, lame. When people disagree with your awesome truth they are too sensitive? A back handed compliment isn’t a compliment at all and you know that.

                I don’t mind your disagreement or your opinion, its your pretend objectivity and your marginalization of improvement that I contest.

              8. There’s the FDM I remember. Well said, and this is pretty much a carbon copy of the non stop Alex Smith criticisms that had no middle ground.

              9. Thanks Rocket. What was funny at that time with Alex Smith was when he won he got no credit, “game manger”. With Kaepernick, he plays well in a win and a loss and he gets no credit. SF fans are one of a kind I guess.

              10. Eh emmmm. For your information FDM it was 5 and a half years.
                I gave smith his props when he improved. Thank you very much! When he sucked I gave him his props for that too.
                Slow down on the name dropping with non factual statements!

            3. FDM I don’t think its just 49er fans that do this. Here in Denver people are starting to call for Osweiler and Manning is 2-0. They aren’t scoring enough points, his balls are floating too much, he can’t throw the long ball etc. After Manning’s first year they coined a term “Manning fatigue”. Meaning they are exhausted of the promise of him leading them to another title. For the last three years people have hated on Manning and its been crazy. Osweiler sounds great but man people are nuts to think he could have put the TD drive together last week. Rocket said it, its an all or nothing league, hero or villain but its all thankless.

              1. Wilson,

                Who’s a better back-up, Osweiller or Kaep, I mean Gabbert. No I mean Kaep.

                (Come on man, it’s Tuesday! What are we going to talk about til Sunday???)

        2. Grant

          Have you re-watched the game? There is significant evidence of real progress in Kaep’s progressions and decision-making starting midway through 3Q when (it appears) the coaches decided it might be worthwhile trying to throw the ball.

          1. He doesn’t care E. Its like Grant saying “if you take away the long run or catch they suck.” He’s dismissing all of the successes and its not worth arguing with him because he sees what he wants to see.

            1. Wilson

              I have no interest in arguing with Grant. What I’m interested in is his proximity to coaches and players, and it would be nice to get a better understanding whether this coaching staff is going to depart in any meaningful way from the last one. This team is packed with dynamic receiving options all over the field, so if the staff doesn’t let ‘er rip with Kaepernick, you’d have to wonder why. It’s known that Baalke said this team would “run the ball,” but all signs from the offseason — Simpson, Bush, Smith, Bell, White — point to acquisitions geared toward improving the passing game.

              What say you, Grant? Is this a Parcells joint, or will we continue to see quick slants and Kaep throwing darts to streaking John Taylor (I mean Torrey Smith)?

              1. The quick slants were available because the Niners were down 43-18 with 5 minutes left. Great throw to T. Smith, though.

          2. Yes. Most of his second-half completions went to wide-open receivers. He had two really nice completions — the throws over the middle to Torrey Smith and Blake Bell.

              1. Also isn’t this the very same thing so many of you were slamming him for the last 2 seasons is that he wouldn’t hit the wide open receiver and rather force a throw to a covered guy? Now you’re dinging him for hitting the open guy? Isn’t that what a QB is supposed to do, hit the open guy?

              2. It’s called moving the goalposts Wilson73. If he does things the naysayers have said he can’t do, then they have to look for other ways to criticize him.

                If he had played like crap in the first half then the idea that he only played better in the second half due to the score might have some merit, but that wasn’t the case. He was playing well from the start, and the only thing that changed in the second half was some of the play calling and not shooting themselves in the foot.

                I’ve rewatched the game (painful experience) and the Steelers really didn’t change what they were doing very much from the first half to the second. There was no prevent, they brought 4 and 5 rushers regularly and played a combination man/zone as they did in the first half. The difference was the Niners offense executing better. The game also wasn’t out of reach until the Steelers final TD, so there is no reason to downplay the effort their defense was giving.

              3. Thanks Rocket. I think you or others have said it many times. If you presume the QB to be a failure you see everything to that side of things or if you believe him to be a hero you see everything that way and nothing will change your opinion.

                Where’s the realist camp?

              4. wilson73,

                Being the QB of this team is a pretty thankless job. If you aren’t Montana, or to a lesser degree Young, then you are on the fan dump list on a week to week basis. It never fails to amaze me how short sighted people can be when criticizing one player in the ultimate team sport.

                I think the reality is Kap was a project coming out of College, had success before anyone thought he would, replaced a popular guy in the minds of some fans and then had to meet unrealistic expectations because of how well he started. He is a talented athlete, who still doesn’t have all the nuances down for how to play this position in the NFL. That is the reality, and we can either exercise patience and focus on the incremental improvement while hopefully continuing to win games, or we can conclude he will never get it, isn’t good enough and cut bait. I personally think option number 2 is ridiculous based on what we’ve seen, but some have other ideas.

              5. Kaep is objectively superior to Young at this point in his career, BY FAR. He doesn’t stack up to Montana, but nobody ever will.

              6. Rocket its hard to add anything to what you’ve written. I agree that he’s developmental and is as exciting and promising as he is frustrating.

                E’s right by comparison to Young, he’s lightyears better than Steve was at this point.

                I think sometimes we over look the character of the players. Alex Smith had great work ethic and I respected him for it. I think Kaepernick also has great work ethic and shows that he’s teachable by spending so much time working on his weaknesses. To me that’s crucial and what Young, Montana, Elway and many others demonstrated. Tebow works hard too, but he can’t make the throws and may have reached his ceiling where as Kaep seems to be improving on all of his throws. 71% completion in the Sunday game.

  8. I might be going away for awhile. If Luck can’t rack up a total of 7 points for my fantasy team. You’ve got to be kidding me. 3 so far! Pffft. He looks like crap so far this year

    1. Nope, he’s gonna play crappy in the 4th too.

      Teams that start 0-2 have a 9% chance of making the playoffs.

      1. That’s a misleading stat. Ask yourself, what type of teams are most likely to start 0-2? Crappy teams or playoff teams?

        Therefore, since most of the teams that start 0-2 aren’t good teams, they’re not likely to make the playoffs.

        1. Don’t get me wrong, any team starting 0-2 is putting themselves in a hole, but most are plain lousy and just keep right on digging that hole.

        1. Hey can’t blame Frank, he just wanted to play with a superior QB. Luck 3 tds 5 ints, 2 fumbles lost. 0-2 record. Well at least Frank got to play in 1 SB cause he wont be seeing another one. Niners may not see one either in quite a while but Kaep looks ALOT better then Luck at this point. Oh ya and Hyde is much better then gore as well.

        2. Little bit different when a QB fumbles on a sneak when the center stands straight up after he snaps the ball, don’t you think? Frankie fumbled the football without a defender within 2 yards of him. Gore was simply,lackadaisical with the football, never holding it high and tight. Kaepernick wasn’t.

          Night and day comparison Coffee. You’re going to need to better than that!

  9. 3 TE is a nice cute little package that should be used just as that. A package. Not a staple u use over and over. Problem with it is there is no vertical threat so once the element of surprise is over and it’s all over the film the defense can load the box and smother it. GEEP disappointed me yesterday but his utter lack of creativity and forward thinking. Jimmy Raye esque.

  10. Watching the Jets-Colts game and listening to Gruden talk about the free agency secondary pickups that the Jets made, got me irritated again about how Baalke performs or doesn’t perform in free agency. Torrey Smith was a good pickup, no doubt. But let’s look at the other free agent pickups. Dockett is off the team but has a cap hit of $2.5 million. Combining Shareece Wright (who doesn’t seem to be good enough to suit up) and Reggie Bush (who is made of glass) leads to an additional $5.6 million in 2015 cap hit in non-performing assets. All told about $8 million.

    For 2015, SF is 6th in Dead Cap money at over $20 million. This is about double the dead money from 2014. The dead money in 2014 was about double the dead money hit in 2013. But hey, for 2015 we still have cap space of $12.1 million. Got feel good about that, right.

    Finally, consider these numbers. In 2012 $62 million of the cap salary was spent on defense, in 2013 it was over $50 million and in 2014 about $57 million. This year it’s about $45 million. You can argue whether or not the salary cap hits are really indicative of how much is spent (maybe average contract yearly amount would be better) but here I’m looking at 4 years so there is some evening out of uneven annual payouts. I wonder if it’s unreasonable to expect that you get what you are willing to pay for.

    Sorry for the rant, I just had to get this off my chest.

    1. Here’s a few more numbers to consider. Let’s look at dead money plus unused cap space divided by the adjusted cap space, which is total cap set by NFL for a specific year plus carry over from the previous year. In 2013 the percentage of adjusted cap space which was dead money plus unused cap space was 7.6%. In 2014 the percentage was 9.6%. In 2015 that percentage is 21%.

        1. Yes. Anthony Davis, Justin Smith, Patrick Willis and Chris Borland amount to about $6.8 million. Point taken.

          1. Posted to quickly. Meant to add that there is still $25 million in 2015 that is non-performing. I’m not so unrealistic that I expect that number to be zero and there is nothing one can do about the dead money now, but given problems on the OL and secondary, couldn’t some of the unused cap space have been spent instead of throwing essentially rookies into the secondary (Reaser and Acker) and bringing in a San Diego CB who was ranked 105th out of 108th by PFF in 2014.

            1. Wow, that hurts my feelings that you would think that’s what I meant by that question. (Joking, mostly, I do have a small tear in the corner of left eye).

              I meant which players account for the dead money total.

            2. CFC,

              Can you explain the terms “practice squad”, “salary cap” and “first down” to me?

              And what do people mean when they refer to the “53” and “46”?

              I better sharpen my comments, if you thought I didn’t know what dead money is.

              Yikes, bad table image.

          1. Using Niners nation as a source, unavoidable dead money (Due to retired players and Ray McD) against the 49ers 2015 cap is $11.5M.

            The net dead money against the cap in 2025 is $8.5M (using $20M as a starting point). Pretty much in line with earlier years. Also, the 49ers will have a relatively good amount of cap space next year.

            Considering some of the key pieces Baalke had picked up in the past, I’m somewhat optimistic.

              1. No doubt a fair amount is beyond his control. But why not ask for the signing bonus back from AD. Admittedly, it would be tough to do that for Justin and Patrick, but AD no problem, IMO. My biggest gripe is that we didn’t spend some of the $12.1 million available to help shore up weak areas that they knew about. I know that some of that $12.1 million was earmarked for Aldon. But why Wright when there were better CBs available. Does anyone know if they even tried to get Mathis?

                The RayMac situation still confuses me. At the time, I remember there was some issue about when he was released. I don’t exactly remember, but had he been released at a later date, the 9ers would have saved I think around $2 million. The cap hit number that people were throwing around at that time was around $3 to $3.5 million. 2015 hit was $4.6 million. At the time I complained on the blog about the additional cap hit, but most people agreed that he needed to go ASAP. The thing is $2M here, $3M to $5M here and it starts to add up.

              2. I don’t think getting the cash back from the signing bonus changes the effect on the cap. What’s done is done, cap wise. At least, I think it is.

                For instance, from what I can tell, Borland’s bonus still fully counts against he cap.

              3. Well, I’m not sure. The signing bonuses are shown separately in the dead cap line item for each player. If that number is suddenly reduced to zero due to recoupment, I would think it would have to show up as less of a dead cap hit. The money was recouped and thus not paid, so I would think it wouldn’t be part of dead money.

              4. Not every move is going to work. Rogers worked very well. Wright didn’t. Not good, but you can’t win them all. He hit on whiten, Bethea, and Rogers and missed on wright (so it seems, anyway).

                Before you go wishing that baalke had spent more money on a FA CB, ask the Eagles how they’re liking that signing of Maxwell, right about now.

                The reality is, big money FA are more risky than more modest signings, and not that much more likely to work out. And when they don’t, they kill the cap.

                Look at Seattle. They are in a world of hurt, if chancellor doesn’t come back soon. They are thin like paper. Right now, they’re putting three journeymen DB’s on the field in their nickel package. Now that the Wilson, Lynch, Okung, Wagner, Thomas, Sherman and Chancellor dividend has been used up, they’re shedding useful players faster than Grant changing his mind about a player, coach, team, etc.

                They have ancient Fred Jackson backing up Lynch, no WR’s to start with, Luke Wilson backing up Graham, a horrible starting o line (let alone backups), DL supposedly has good depth (I’m not sure what to believe, since the media is kissing the Seahawks collective butts), LB depth is poor and DB depth is really poor.

                My point is, because of poor cap management, they’ve squandered the gift of a cluster of magically lucky draft picks (I say lucky because look at their roster depth, none). And I couldn’t be happier.

                I like the conservative approach Baskke is taking.

                Many in here are arguing if the 49ers are rebuilding or reloading. I suppose it’s semantics, but, to me, if you don’t have a recited worse that 8-8 or even 7-9, I’m not sure if you can really call that rebuilding.

              5. It seems logical, but the dead money chart I found on Niners nation shows Borland’s signing bonus as dead money, but that’s far from conclusive. I’m sure someone will come up the info.

    2. The question is- Do you want to sign a bunch of Free Agents and get into salary cap hell like Seattle, or Philly, or do you want to stockpile draft picks that are locked into rookie contracts, and build thru the draft like GB with salary cap discipline?

      1. I don’t think it is one extreme or the other. I think there is more they could have done this year with available resources. Here’s the way I see it. $2 million lost due to when they released RayMac, $8 million in poor free agent signings (Bush, Wright and Dockett), and almost $2 million in AD signing bonus. So $11 to $12 million there plus $12 million in available salary cap. Surely we could have picked up a good, experienced CB and OL and had a significant amount left over to cover Aldon’s salary if he was still on the team and then still had more left over beyond that.

        Is it any wonder that they signed the 105th out of 108th rated CBs (Shareece Wright) and he can’t even suit up?

        Look at top 5 teams with the highest amount of salary cap space:

        Jaguars – $34 M
        Titans – $26.5 M
        Browns – $24.6M
        Raiders – $16 M
        Packers – $12.7M

        Seb, take a look at these numbers and you’ll see that the Eagles are not in salary cap hell. Seattle is perhaps on the border, but the truth is our perception is that as 49ers fans we would love for them to be in salary cap hell but Carroll/Schneider are pretty good. Injuries is what will kill them (don’t expect them to lose home games to Chicago and Detroit).

        http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cap/

        1. If the Carroll and Schneider are so good, why is the Seahawks depth so poor?

          They’re like the football version of Jamie Gold. Jamie Gold is an amateur poker player who got on a roll in the 2006 WSOP Main Event. He was aggressive and he bluffed often, when the pros got sick of him running over them, and played back at him, he had the nuts. He was just wiping the floor with everyone.

          If you knew what you were watching you could see that everything was lining up perfectly for this guy, but it was still hard to figure out just how good he was. To a casual viewer, Gold looked like a poker god. Even if you knew what you were looking at, it was hard to tell where luck left off (after all, no matter how good you are in poker – and anything else – you need SOME luck) and skill started.

          Ah, but all of this was made clear the over the next couple of years. Gold revealed himself as a mediocre poker player with his poor showing in many tournaments.

          This is what I hope the Carroll / Schneider FO will prove to be (they may not be that bad, but I’m hoping). Yes, they hit on some draft picks that have been tremendous, with Sherman and Chancellor (fifth round picks) the crown jewels. But what have they done as far as filling out their roster with the rest of their picks? Answer: Not much.

          If you look at their roster, it’s pretty much devoid of depth. A lot of great front line talent, but no depth.

          No depth at QB, RB, WR, OL, ILB, OLB and DB. With their starting O Line being ridiculous, WR’s non-existent, and DB’s with Chancellor fine (three All Pros plus a journeyman will usually be good), without Chancellor they’re pretty average in base and a disaster in nickel (THREE average to below average journeymen DB’s). If they don’t get Chancellor back, and soon, the year will be very long for the Seahawks.

          And it won’t be much better next year, when there will be more players with their paws out for raises. Except now that they’ve paid (overpaid?) their precious “core” players, there’s no money left to bail themselves out of their inability to fill out their roster with cheap draft picks.

          1. Good points, exgolfer.
            Yes, the Seahawks are constrained after paying their core players, and their depth is questionable…..but, it is a good problem to have after winning one SB and appearing in another. That SB win was not a fluke, it was a dominant defense.
            IMO, Baalke is a good GM, and does well in terms of depth but who are his home runs/blue chippers?
            -Bowman, who is yet to play a full season after his injury
            -Aldon, who is no longer on the roster
            -Kap, maybe.
            -A. Davis and Iupati were solid, nothing more.
            -Hyde has yet to carry the load for a full season.
            Sorry, except for the Bowman pre-imjury, there is no one in the class of Earl Thomas, Chancellor, Marshawn Lynch (trade) and Sherman.
            Depth is great but every once a while a GM needs blue chippers. Whether that happens by luck or design……just my 2 cents.

  11. Goodwin
    Boldin
    T Smith
    Gabbert
    Dorsey
    Brooks
    Whiten
    Bethea
    Rogers
    Cox
    Bellore
    Ventrone
    Dahl
    Skuta

    Maybe it’s not the best list, but it’s not horrible, either. I might forgotten a few or more.

      1. CFC,

        Yep, let’s build that sucker right along the international date line.

        Um, could you explain to me what the international date line is?

        1. I think it has something to do with a green witch that was mean to people in England centuries ago, but only at a certain time of day, which is now called “Green Witch Mean Time.”

          1. Isn’t it “Mean Green Witch Time”, not “Green Witch Mean Time”?

            Also, I think the international date line is on the floor of the pacific ocean.

        2. The international date line is a spiel that will work on every woman in the world to get them to go out with you.

    1. It’s shocking and disgusting that Hayne would cause such mayhem. I guess this is Jed’s idea of winning with class.

      I’m surprised that the camera crew (Australian?) would give up footage so damaging to their countryman. Whatever happened to that “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oy, Oy, Oy” attitude we’ve come to hate?

      Do you know if any of the victims have filed a complaint? With all the video footage as evidence, Hayne will have a hard time getting out of this mess unscathed.

      Will these arrests (I’m assuming, here) ever stop?

      1. Unsubstantiated reports say Hayne was hopped up on some super high octane coffee one of his relatives smuggled into the county hidden in a jar of Vegemite. This could even be a PED violation.

        1. On top of that, he was bragging to his hapless victims about “polishing his deck with a belt sander.” (say it in an Aussie accent)

  12. “Polishing his deck with a belt sander”? I don’t even know what that means (unless his deck needs polishing), but it sounds oddly dirty and weird.

    1. Its even more dirty in a Kiwi accent.

      “I was polishing my deck with a belt sander in the hot sun all day, and boy my arms are tired. It was tough going mate. There were nails in it that tore the sand paper, and gouges from high heel marks left from women standing on it during BBQ parties.”

  13. Quite frankly, it’s hard to read a Jim Tomsula presser. He starts a thought, doesnt finish, and then moves on to something else. Obviously, he’s a football coach and not an orator so it’s not a big deal but, quite frankly, it’s a little annoying to read.

    1. Watching the press conference, Coach Tomsula really tries hard to answer the question without revealing too much. He is like a breath of fresh air.
      JH pressers were unpleasant, and his contempt for the press was palpable. He looked like he was being tortured, and it was like pulling teeth to extract any meaningful comment from him.

      1. When you have members of the press trying to prove they know more about football than an NFL coach then I would have contempt for them too.

      2. Seb, just read the transcript, he starts thoughts and doesn’t finish them. He’s confusing and clearly under pressure. He’s trying his best and I like him but the question going into the season is “JT in over his head?” I think in 2 more weeks we’ll know for sure. He doesn’t really answer questions about players performances. Its just a nicer way to stone wall the press than JH did.

        I know many didn’t like JH’s pressers, but I loved that he treated the press like his enemies. It was entertaining. Some of the press are snakes, some are genuine.

        1. JH pressers were a microcosm of his coaching style. Yech. He was winningl, but unpleasant, and could have been a lot better.
          Coach Tomsula is not an elocution specialist, and frankly, that is one skill that any good HC does not need to be successful.
          I heard his interview with Tommmy T, and the first words out of his mouth was concern over the his recent surgery. You cant fake that, his genuine concern about other people. I look forward to many more of Coach Tomsula’s pressers.

          1. Tomsula has a style where everything will be great as long as he’s winning. The press, including Grant Cohn, will eat him alive due to his Awe Shucks style. Cohn and others will attack him personally if the team struggles. They will say he’s too nice to the players or he is a poor communicator or he isn’t a strong leader. The criticism will be about his personality rather than his coaching. Mark my words. It will happen if the team struggles.

            1. I really really really hopes that does not happen.
              If Coach Tomsula gets to the playoffs with this offseason from Hell, he deserves the COTY award.

              1. Agree. I can’t remember another offseason for any team that was as destructive to the 49ers on-field performance as this past year. Having said that, I’m not a Baalke fan. I think he has drafted poorly which will magnify all the personnel changes this past offseason.

              2. If I win the lottery I’ll be generous with the money. May I have credit for historic generosity now please. Notice that I’m also polite. ;-}

      1. Seb Luck like CK needs a whole lot better O line and I’m cautiously optimistic regarding my Irish.

        1. Yes, both can improve, but it also is about the factor that they need better players surrounding them.

        1. That’s true. I’ve have often thought of Randall when watching Kaep. Those long striding legs and canon for an arm. I think Russell Wilson reminds me more of Vick due to his size and quickness.

  14. While looking up some salary cap data last night, I found this article. This article provides a strong reason why free agents might turn down an offer from the 49ers especially if they have a competing offer.

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/jimpagels/2015/08/06/tax-adjusted-salary-caps-illustrate-huge-disparity-in-nfl-payrolls/

    From the article:

    “To put that difference in perspective, $19.1 million after taxes is more than any player in the NFL has ever earned per year, meaning teams in taxless states can essentially afford a California roster plus the most expensive player in NFL history on top of that each and every year.

    This calculation also doesn’t take into account cost of living and real estate prices that are often much higher in cities like San Francisco and New York, which are located in high state income tax states. This is yet another advantage most non-state income tax teams reap.

    When NFL commentators talk about teams having an advantage playing in a dome or in a weak division, that’s likely nothing compared to the advantage they garner playing in a state income taxless state.”

    1. That is fine by me. They can live some where else. I will take California over any place in the world. Taxes are higher, but I get to throw a steak on the BBQ in sunny California while others are freezing to icicles or sweltering in 100% humidity.

      1. TomD

        September 21, 2015 at 9:36 am

        49ers busted out their secretive offense they worked on this summer: A 3-Tight End offense which included 4 running plays….Wow, sure fooled the Steelers once they reviewed the film…Arizona’s laughing their As-es off!
        Az has 7 WR on their offense and probably won’t have to use them all, but they can run and Palmer can Pass

        Roethlisberger is currently averaging 11.1 yards/attempt–Tops in the NFL.

        Big Been Racked up 267 yards on 6 passes (28yds, 35yds, 48yds,56yds, 59yds, 41 yds)
        vs 49ers, and

            1. Any one still think the 49ers know anything about a passing game.
              Kap had 33 yards at halftime.
              The score was 29-3, Steelers at the 4th quartermark…Anyone ever played football before?? At this point your coaches instruct the players to let the receivers catch the ball underneath and tackle them, ie., (play the clock).
              The Steelers went into injury protection mode, already worrying about next weeks game.

              1. Cardinals on Offense

                Quarterback Carson Palmer is healthy again and throwing the ball very well. He’s completed 64.3 percent of his passes for 492 yards, seven touchdowns and one interception. Palmer’s QB rating is a stellar 124.4 right now. Meanwhile, wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald has benefited from Palmer’s health, averaging 14.2 yards per reception while scoring three times against the Bears. Fitzgerald isn’t young like Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown, but he still can dominate a game like Brown. Fitzgerald will cause matchup issues for either of San Francisco’s cornerbacks.

                WR John Brown is capable of taking advantage of single coverage if Fitz is doubled, and rookie running back David Johnson has already proved himself very elusive—he’s scored on a kickoff return, a pass reception and a rushing attempt already this season. Joining Johnson in the backfield are two other weapons: former 2,000-yard rusher Chris Johnson and the tiny Andre Ellington. Combined, this RB trio has rushed for 220 yards on 47 attempts for a 4.7 yards-per-carry average. These Cardinals can run the ball, unlike the previous Arizona teams under Arians.

              2. Cardinals on Defense

                Strong safety Tony Jefferson leads the team in tackles right now with 14, and he also has an interception return for a touchdown this season. Meanwhile, linebacker Alex Okafor has two sacks for the Arizona defense in 2015. When you add in defensive end Calais Campbell (43.5 career sacks), cornerback Patrick Peterson and free safety Tyrann Mathieu, the Cardinals have plenty of talent on defense to disrupt any offense.

                Arizona is only ranked 22nd in defense after two weeks, but a lot of that yardage has come from the opponent playing catch-up in the second half: The Cardinals are 10th against the run and 28th against the pass. They’ve given up just 81.5 yards per game on the ground thus far.

                Cardinals Players to Watch

                David Johnson is making a name for himself already in the NFL. With just nine touches so far in his career, he’s already scored three times in three different ways. He is a true threat to score every time he gets the ball. Even so, Palmer is what makes the Arizona offense click: Without him last season, the team struggled to score points and fizzled out in the first round of the playoffs. Defensively, the secondary is trouble, with Mathieu and Peterson roaming the field. The two are among the most talented secondary defenders in the league.

        1. TomD it would have been a whole lot sweeter win if Cal hadn’t choked away their lead in the last 5 min and covered the spread. They cost me a 120 dollar parlay card.

    2. Oh, so that’s why those Florida and Texas teams put together winning rosters year after year.

      Consider the source – Forbes – on why this is even a consideration.

      1. Sorry, rib, I’m not following. Are you saying this isn’t a consideration? Imagine a player getting a 5 million dollar signing bonus. It’s not going to be easy to hide that income from the IRS or state. Now in CA, about $500K goes to taxes, in the tax free states, nada. Don’t forget, it’s not just the players that think about how much they are making. It’s the agent, the player’s family, maybe friends looking to get a piece of the pie. You can bet some of them are throwing around advice. The more disposable income there is, the more can be spread around.

        A little while back, one of the players talked about the impact of state taxes. I can’t remember who it was, but maybe someone else can.

        1. If top free agents have their after tax take home pay as a top consideration, why haven’t teams in those moocher states (it’s well known low tax states rely more heavily on federal expenditures than those with higher state taxes), why haven’t these teams been cleaning up with free agent signings, and subsequent success on the field?

    1. Coffee-closers,

      Great post….At least someone in the Bay Area comprehends how to put together a complex passing offense.
      Maybe the 49ers could be pro-active for once and get him under contract before another does.

      1. I think you watched the wrong video. “Texas caught faking injury against Cal,” is the video I was posting. You might have to hit the replay button when you first click the link.

  15. PFF’s stats reveal on 86 pass plays, the offensive line is responsible for five sacks and 37 total pressures. Left tackle Joe Staley has surrendered two sacks and six pressures, while left guard Alex Boone, Pears and Devey have each given up one sack. Pears and Devey have been responsible for eight hurries apiece.

    Here’s what ck has to work with. Zero ints so far. That’s impressive in its own right.
    What sucks is we probably won’t get to truly know how much he’s grown in the pocket because of these three scrubs!

    1. I don’t give out props to Kaep very much, but when I do, I drink Dos Equis. Tops on the CK to do list was to cut down on the TOs. He didn’t have the many last year, he just did them in bunches when he tried to do too much.

      That’s a good starting point, it’s just two games. The AZ D is tough, wonder how many red zone chances they get in the next game.

          1. Tom do you even read the stuff you cut and paste?

            From your post on the Cardinal’s D above:

            Arizona is only ranked 22nd in defense after two weeks, but a lot of that yardage has come from the opponent playing catch-up in the second half:

    2. I think improvement can be seen even with the line’s performance despite all the people saying the Steelers gave up, their secondary is bad, it was garbage time etc. Its ironic the last 2 seasons people are complaining Kap would miss the open receiver and force the ball into coverage, not we here all his WR’s were wide open and it was so easy so it doesn’t count. Barrows has some decent points below.

      http://www.sacbee.com/sports/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/article36125121.html

  16. Interesting comment from Maiocco’s chat:

    MattMaioccoCSN moderator55 minutes ago
    @jimmydur Obviously the O-line protection and D pass coverage are the big concerns. How can the 9ers address the D-backs long ball coverage in addition to a stronger pass rush?

    MM: The 49ers’ pass defense automatically becomes better this week because they won’t have to face the Steelers again. Nobody stops Antonio Brown and Ben Roethlisberger. So there’s that.

    The other thing the secondary can do is place less emphasis on working so hard to disguise their coverages. Eric Reid, in particular, found himself scrambling to get back into position on two deep balls in which he was assigned to play cover-2. Instead, he tried to get Roethlisberger into thinking he was blitzing by hanging around the line of scrimmage for too long.

    http://www.csnbayarea.com/49ers/49ers-chat-matt-maiocco-11am-92215

    1. Attempting to cause confusion is one of the problems the 49ers defense had trouble with during the Nolan and Singletary eras. It was near the end of Singletary’s reign that they started being given more simplistic assignments.
      I was afraid that Mangini’s style of defense would confuse not our opponents but our our players, and so far I have been right about that.

    2. Do you think Reid was the one trying to get Ben to think he was blitzing or rather that was the play call from the coaches? Seems like Ben identified the scheme and beat it.

        1. From the GIF’s is pretty clear they knew how to beat Mangini. That one throw with Johnson in coverage is crazy good. He was step for step with the WR. The first GIF with the throw between Reid and Acker was also amazing. I have said this all along, Mangini’s defense is a risk and reward d, they’ll make some great plays and get burned big. Fangio’s teams hardly gave up big plays.

          1. Agree on Mangini. Also, I’m wondering if Mangini doesn’t need to come up to speed. He hasn’t been a DC for awhile. He only has the 49ers to work with, so maybe he’s just not up to speed with the rest of the league yet. By that I mean, he underestimated Antonio Brown and called schemes that resulted in the defense getting beat big-time. Hopefully, he’ll be more careful in the future and be less willing to take those risks. Had we played a more conservative defense, we still might not have stopped them from scoring, but maybe they wouldn’t have scored as often, thus keeping the game more within reach. Then if Bruce Miller could just catch a TD and Kap get that extra foot….. All under the bridge, I know.

  17. Here’s a stat line for you Kaepaologists:

    30/46, 378 YDs. 4 TDs. Do you know what game that was from? Chiefs vs. Colts in the Playoffs. 1/4/2014.

    Those stats look pretty good, right, for a dude named Alex Smith. Oh yeah. He lost!

    An L is an L no matter how you look at it. Some will bring up Smith’s fumble in that game. Others will say Smith was playing Defense that day when the Colts game back.

    But let’s look at the other side of that game. Andrew Luck led that team all the way back in that comeback. As good as Kaep played in the 2nd half, Niners never came close to mounting a comeback.

    It’s only 2 games in, and it’s way too early to suggest Kaep is better. The only thing I will say is he’s not worse.

    1. @mayo63 Matt, what do you think about Kap’s play? He looked real good in the second half against the Steelers. Do you think he’s looking better?

      MM: Yes, I think he played very well. Some of those throws he made in the second half were outstanding. That touchdown pass to Torrey Smith was an incredible throw. I still think he can do a better job with his pre-snap reads and get the ball in rhythm. That’s probably nit-picking, though. I think he has looked good in the first two games.

        1. Fan77

          MM may be a homer, but it takes a total moron to fail to see Kaep’s improvement. I was railing against the guy like an idiot in the 1st half of the P game, but what he did in the 2nd half was legendary, regardless of the outcome, regardless of the opposition’s conduct. If Miller hadn’t inexplicably dropped a sure TD, the score would have been 29-19 with 10 minutes to play.

          Rewatch the game, and focus on the late 3rd and 4th Qs. You can’t help but notice Kaep’a improvements.

          1. E,
            Yes, I would say Kaep is cleaning up some things. I’m just not putting a lot of value on it. Listening to Matt Barrows on KNBR and he said the same thing. The stakes aren’t really there to really measure the growth.

              1. I did no hear the radio interview, but here is what Barrows wrote in his film review (http://www.sacbee.com/sports/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/article36125121.html):

                “Kaepernick was accurate, he made the right decisions, and when he wasn’t being rushed up the middle — a big issue in the game — stepped up and out of pressure and either ran or threw the ball. He even used cadence to draw the Steelers off-sides three times. One of the biggest assignments for offensive coordinator Geep Chryst and quarterbacks coach Steve Logan this year is to make Kaepernick better. It’s early, but the signs so far are positive.”

                Cautious comments, and rightfully so, but not commensurate with “[t[he stakes aren’t really there to really measure the growth.”

              2. “and when he wasn’t being rushed up the middle”.

                That’s the huge issue the 49ers had in the first half. It killed a few drives.

            1. It’s Matt Barrows on KNBR’s podcast. Some of the other commenters are not ripping on Kaep. Tim Ryan said he played well.

              The narrative I’ve been saying is that it’s the context of 2nd half blow-out and the concerns are the red zone, for whatever reason. That’s the opposite view, I’m not the only one that has said that.

              If you like Kaep, then you are going to to see the positives of the game.
              Obviously I don’t think he’s that good, that doesn’t mean hate, it’s just my view so I’m going to see the glaring issue of red zone productivity.

              I will credit him for seeing the game well, even in that blow-out, so that’s good.

              Kevin Lynch is actually praising him, saying he’s maturing, he’s starting to get it.

        2. Fan #7 played well on Sunday. The defense laid an egg. Can’t fault him for that or the drops or the bad penalties!

    2. “As good as Kaep played in the 2nd half, Niners never came close to mounting a comeback.”

      Right, because the defense played its part by stopping the Steelers from scoring and getting the ball back to the offenses… wait… that’s not right. The defense has to do its part for a comeback to be even close to successful.

      Fan, you are starting to move into your anti-Bay frame of mind and it is leading you back down the hyperbole path. I know you are not a troll, but you are starting to act like one on this issue.

      1. I never blamed Kaep for this loss, Clearly it’s the O-Line and the Defense. I just said he played okay and the 2nd half is not the proper gauge. Matt Barrows just said on KNBR that the red zone issues were there in the Minnesota game, which I forget because of Hyde’s breakout game, and that the red zone issues in the first half of the PIT game are issues.

        So that’s Matty Barrows. Not me. Now this other dude on KNBR just said the same thing about the red zone problems.

        1. I am no talking about the loss, Fan. I am talking about your post above mine. You know what you were doing. I know what you were doing. Own up to it, my friend.

          1. I don’t know what I’m doing half the time, just ask my GF. Oh, I just opened up all kinds of insults, here they come in 3….2……1….

        2. Here you go again Fan. Post a comment that is obviously slamming Kaep for not keeping the score close in the first half, or failed to win the game after being way down, then backtrack with you aren’t blaming Kaep for the loss. Yes, you are. Every post you make you mention how Kaep didn’t lead the team to the win, and that is what you expect from the QB.

          You can then say you recognise the D and OL didn’t play well, but you are also absolving them of the loss because apparently a good QB would win anyway.

          But here’s the thing – in those great comeback victories by a QB, how many have had an OL giving up almost instant pressure, largely up the middle? When a QB plays well it isn’t just because the QB plays well. He has help from the other 10 guys on offense too.

          1. Scooter,

            No I just brought up the stats from the Chiefs game because many didn’t give Alex any credit because they lost. And the was a close game. Kaep had good numbers in a blow-out.

            I just listened to Cossell and he brought up an interesting observation: The DBs did not play as bad as it looked. Ben got over 200 yards on 5 throws, and some of the throw were perfect, on the money.

            The DBS got beat because of good execution.

            Now you may read into that by thinking I’m implying that Kaep didn’t not have good execution. He made a great throw to Torrie Smith. He was on the money and stepped into it. I’m sitting at a Starbucks near Culver City, with a producer for the NFL Network talking about the games. She’s talking about QBs. Not to me, but some other dude. Kaep came up. She said he has his moments.

            1. The DBs did play poorly, but not on every snap. On five of those six big plays the coverage was poor (the exception being I thought Johnson had decent coverage, he just got beat by a good throw and catch). On the other five, while those throws were on the money, the coverage also gave up pretty big windows for Ben to throw into.

              But here’s the thing – the reason Ben was able to make those throws is he had almost zero pressure being applied by the pass rush. Amazing how QBs can look good when they aren’t being pressured.

          2. Scooter,
            Reason and unbiased logic will never change a person with an agenda and in this case, complete tunnel vision.
            This guy rarely showed up during the off-season only to re-appear during TC when Grant was putting Kap more on the BAD ledger than the GOOD one.

            Let’s call it what it is: This guy revels whenever Kap has a poor game.
            Now, this season he’s ramped it up, by critiquing Kap even when he has shown improvements in the very areas of the game he was demanding for CK to improve on.
            Go figure?

            1. That’s what I don’t get AES. I’m firmly in the category of fan that wants to see more from Kaep. I wasn’t happy with what I saw from last season. But so far he’s looked a much improved QB from last season.

              He’s not perfect, but then who is? I wouldn’t go calling him an ‘elite’ QB at the moment (though what is an ‘elite’ QB, anyway?). But I wanted to see improvement from him, and so far I most certainly have seen that.

              Using the game against Pittsburgh to point out his shortcomings is desperate. The only reason to not be feeling good about what we’ve seen from Kaep this season is if you hold him to an incredibly high standard. That goes beyond looking for signs of growth to an unrealistic expectation that every QB should be perfect all of the time.

              1. let’s forget that Kaep was the QB for a sec. What standard would you hold any QB to?

                Greatness is the pursuit of perfection, to turn weakness into strength.

                I don’t think Aaron Rodgers, Brady, or Big Ben think it’s unrealistic to hold themselves to a level of perfection.

                You admit that Kaep is flawed, right? Would you agree that last year he couldn’t get past his first read, had a slow delivery, had happy feet, and was inaccurate and inefficient in the red zone?

                Let’s just look at one play, the Miller play. Just look at the play design. Did Kaep really have to keep running right like he did? Miller is wide open, and the PIT D-lineman was falling down. That’s an easy pass that he made harder. Would you agree that Tomsula might say that was a teachable moment? Hey Kaep, next time trust the play design, Throw in rhythm and it’s 6 points.

                But nah….. I’m the crazy one…… You can’t fix something if you don’t believe it’s broken. No one believed Grant when he said Colin was regressing, going all the way back to the Saints game in 2013, but I did, because Grant knows all. I’m glad I listened to the Son of Lowell, not to be confused with the son of Jor-El.

              2. And there we have it. You expect perfection from the QB. Anything less than that and he’s not doing his job.

                I totally agree he has flaws in his game. I’ve never suggested otherwise, and in fact have stated numerous times he has flaws. Many of the same flaws you point out.

                The difference is I can look at a game like the Steelers one and see a QB that is greatly improved from what I saw last season. Significant improvement. All you can see is a guy that isn’t Aaron Rodgers. Heck, if Aaron Rodgers was the 49ers QB you’d probably be pointing out why he’s not good enough either.

                All of the negatives you are pointing out about Kaep’s game against the Steelers are extremely nit-picky at best, just plain obtuse at worst. The pass to Boldin is a great example. Why would you want him firing a dart in that instance? Of course it was the right decision to take some juice of the pass. Boldin will be the first to tell you there is nobody to blame for that one but him. Same with the ball he, errr, dropped (but didn’t fumble).

                On the Miller pass he could have stayed where he was, set his feet and made the throw. But the Steelers player was leaping over Davis and in his passing lane. Moving to his right gave him a clean and easy pass, prevented the defender from falling into him as he was passing, and bought extra time in case the defender managed to keep his feet. He knew he had this time while the play developed and McDonald ran a defender off Miller’s route. It was a simple catch for Miller with no excuse for his drop. Also a smart play by Kaep.

    1. There you go fan. You can replay that gif where Kap should have thrown it to Patton and rip him a new one. The guy’s a bum.

      1. Okay Rocket, since you brought it up!

        There’s just a few little things that when you pay attention, you can see that Kaep needs work.

        In the first GIF, Kaep makes a nice throw to Torrie Smith. He feels the pressure and slides to his left. If he was comfortable with his reads, he could have step up and made a solid throw, like the TD pass. He had time because if he read the D he know he was going that direction anyway. These split second timing things do matter. This time it didn’t affect the play, but you would like to see him step, up and fire, not slide to the left, where his footwork gets janky.

        On the wheel route to Vance. He missed a wipe open Patton, he also didn’t make a good pass where he had to drop it between the LB and the safety. There wasn’t a lot of room for error, but he did make the safe throw that if he was off, then no one can catch up. He made up his mind where he was going to throw it based on the pre-snap read.

        On the screen to Smith, he is falling backward for no reason. The PIT Linemen were biting on the fake to the right. He knew it was a screen left and should have stepped in his throw and fired that laser that you all love.

        On the sack, the LB is breaking free. he had a short hot route to Boldin. But he tries to scramble, goes backwards and it’s a sack for 17 yards. He didn’t see the throw so he doesn’t make it. Kaep is used to scrambling away, could this be a situation where he learns to just dump it to the guy running the short route? This is not to say he made a bad decision, I would like see if he can make these fast decisions without having the see the throw. If he’s wrong it could also be a pick, so I get that.

        On the floater to Boldin that Boldin should have caught. This is one of those situations where on one hand it’s nice to see Kaep try some touch passes, was this the right situation? Boldin was wipe open and maybe a fastball would have been better. The drop is on Boldin no doubt, just curious if you think Kaep made the right decision on the type of pass to throw.

        On the Miller drop: This a case where Kaep got happy feet. The play is designed for where the TE screens Miller’s defender. Kaep steps back to avoid the PIT Linemen, but if he read the play he knew he had Miller and could have just stepped in and made the throw and it’s an easy TD. Instead he leads Miller and he couldn’t hold it.

        I saw this live actually, and that was what I thought, that Kaep held it too long. I was at a loud bar so I couldn’t hear what the actual ruling on the field was, but this as an example, to me, how those little timing things is the different between red zone efficiency, and 3 points.

        He’s not a bum, he’s just overrated and will fool people just enough with his physical athletic ability that they overlook his shortcomings in doing the simple little things that most QBS do.

        Great throw to Torrie for the TD. Props for that one!

        1. You are right. Boldin’s two drops aren’t on him – on the first one Kaep should have gotten it to him with time before the defender was able to get there and break it up (oh wait, he did!), and on the second one he should have fired a bullet to the wide open man to make it a harder to catch. Because that is what you do when you have a man wide open. Totally bad throws on Kaep’s behalf.

          And that drop by Miller was totally Kaep’s fault too. He threw it right where Miller had an easy catch on the ball but he should have known he needed to throw to Miller’s back shoulder instead of hitting him in stride to make Miller stop in his route and prevent him from letting the ball get knocked out of his hands by the ground as he fell down. And oh you are right, he definitely held it too long. He should have thrown it while he was off balance avoiding the player leaping over Mike Davis, and before McDonald had time to re-route the defender. That would have been the smart play.

          On the sack where the defender was allowed to come free through the middle, Kaep totally should have thrown it to Boldin. He was wide open. Well, except for those two defenders in front of Boldin that could have broken on the pass. What a muppet.

          On the third down completion to Smith, if he’d thrown it when you are suggesting he would have been firing it right to a defender covering the underneath route. He needed to wait for that route to clear out the defender, thus needed to slide to his left to give himself more time. No mystery there. Just a good play on his behalf.

          The only one of those plays I agree he could have done better on was the pass to McDonald when he had Patton open on the crossing route. Nobody is perfect. I can see what he was thinking though – McDonald had wide open pastures in front of him if he could get a step on his man.

            1. Cheers. I realise I’m talking to a wall here, but I thought I’d try anyway.

              It makes me laugh when Fan then retorts that I don’t have an open mind. :-P

              1. Scooter, I’m so glad you’re a Niner fan and you represent yourself well in this forum/blog. But I have to ask, where do you get the energy to keep arguing with what I think are close-minded people around here?

              2. well, don’t let go too much though, we need people like you that can put some of the posters here in check. :)

            2. Careful boys, the fractures are showing on the ‘Jerk circle’
              . remember the cardinal rule: when found incorrect….DENIAL!!

          1. I didn’t say the Boldin drops weren’t on him. Those were definitely on him. What I’m asking is if Kaep chose the right pass. He lobbed it to an open guy so Bold has to stop wait for it. It’s a catch that Boldin is paid to make, but is that the pass that Kaep should have thrown?

            If you look at the timing of the first Smith pass, it looks like it was just about the time Kaep hits his back foot and he slid left. I’m saying what he did was wrong, I’m just looking at the timing.

            Kaep is clearly late on the Miller pass. It’s a clear out pattern. Just count the steps. He has happy feet.

            I didn’t say he should have thrown it to Boldin on the sack, I’m saying he needs to see throws and not coverage. Another QB might have thrown it to Boldin if they read the coverage. Kaep’s fist instinct is to scramble. He’s a runner first, passer second. That’s why he decision is not as instinctive as others.

            You clearly don’t want to have an open mind. You automatically assume everything is a hate incentive.

            Hey it’s the 2nd game. He’s got room to get better. Would you agree on that?

            1. Your reputation precedes yourself, and I can’t fathom what the incentive for a guy as sharp as Scooter would be, to continue on your round a bout….

            2. Wow! Boldin standing at the sideline wiiide open, he drops it and you’re asking if it was the right throw, and questioning the flight of the ball. When I know damn well you’ve hammered him about his touch on passes. You’ve hit the lowest part of the day. All of the other posts were just cemented with this horrible comment. The hate is real and you can say you don’t hate him, but like Maury says….. “The lie detector determins that is a lie” is rather listen to Mary at this point . Smh

              1. Reading your long list of things you wrote to scooter of what Kaep should do better I thought if you added swiveling his head 15-20 degrees and laterals to Hayne you’d be the negative version of Seb.

  18. From PFT:

    “Bleacher Report’s Mike Freeman reports Jimmy Graham is “pissed off” and “hates” his role with the Seahawks.

    According to Freeman, “several” Seahawks players have informed him of this and it’s a “fact.” Graham allegedly “hates what’s happening in Seattle” where he’s “barely looked at in the passing game.” Through two games, Graham has just 10 targets, which is 15th among tight ends. We could see the target dip coming as soon as it was announced he was traded to the Seahawks, but not in this fashion. Russell Wilson has attempted more than 30 passes in each of the first two games, yet Graham doesn’t have much to show for it. It’s not like he’s being asked to block more; per PFF, Graham has blocked on 31.7 percent of his snaps. He blocked on 30.5 percent of his snaps in New Orleans last season. Expect the Seahawks to try to feed him more this week against the Bears.”

    1. The Seahawks are one season behind us in their fall from greatness. I told Mary that very few fans believe this is the year their team is going to stop being a contender.

      1. Wilson you have not had a SB win in 20+ years and you fire the only coach who gave you a chance to get there and the entire staff. To compare the Seahawk management with the 49ers is a joke. You are going to finish in last place this year. That kind of a DRASTIC DROP only happens when you have poor leadership from top to bottom.

          1. Mary,

            The 49ers have very good roster depth and the Seahawks have very little. You’re right, they are nothing alike.

        1. The Seahawks have been relevant for maybe the last 3 years and you are talking like they are a storied franchise. Mary when discussing the 49ers vs. Seahawks, I think you need to appreciate all the winning seasons we have had. You are a rookie in this new upper echelon of being an elite franchise. When you have consecutive winning season and multiple SB’s, then maybe the comparison is relevant.

          You want to talk leadership? How about Pete Carroll for a moment. The rah rah approach seems to be diminishing don’t you think? The poor play calling in the SB and now to start the season. That to me is a leader who’s ego is starting to make poor decisions. But what would you know about that? You are a loser troll who only shows up when the 49ers lose and your pipe dream wins.

          1. FDM Get over yourself. The 49ers havent been relevent for 20+ years. Too bad too sad. Blame York and don’t get pissy with me. LOL.

            1. Mary playing in a SB makes a team relevant. Playing in 3 NFCCG’s in a row makes a team relevant. Come on Mary I expect better from you.

        2. And in a 41 year franchise history your team has won ONE super bowl followed by a loss the next year followed by an 0-2 start to the season after. You might want to hold off before getting too confident about that Dynasty you so badly want to exist that doesn’t. You think Carrol is going to last if they somehow stumble and miss the playoffs and or look crummy for a season or two. Not with those contracts that are being paid out up there. Here’s a vision; the Seahawks make the tournament in 2015 as a WC and are bounced in the first round. They miss the playoffs in 2016 and after a rough start to 2017 they fire Pete. Enjoy.

    2. I am rooting for Fangio to have the game of his life. I wanted Fangio initially as the HC because I thought he would provide continuity, but Tomsula was chosen.
      Fangio has coached against the Seahawks for years, so he knows them well.
      Since they have given him no chance to win, he should pull out all the stops and blitz them like mad.
      The Bears have played against two unbeaten teams. Now they have the chance to redeem themselves and take advantage of a winless team.

    3. This is exactly the issue I was suggesting the Seahawks are starting to have. Players thinking they are bigger than the team. While they are getting good results it won’t be a big issue, but now after 2 losses to start the season we are seeing some cracks.

      I don’t think this is the year we see the Seahawks fall, I think they’ll bounce back, but I think this is their last year of being one of the best teams in the NFL for a little while.

    4. Jimmy Graham lined up in the slot on 53.3% of Saints plays the last 3 yrs & caught ~half his TDs from there (17/35). His SEA Slot% is 26.9%.

    1. That’s a big disappointment in Martin, but he’s only 21. Maybe he’s a late bloomer. Kilgore won’t be ready to go until week 9. No wonder they traded for Easton….

        1. That’s right. Anthony Davis too some time to develop — so did Staley.
          Martin physically dominated other college players — in NFL he will need to develop other aspects of his game.

      1. It’s tough for a kid like Martin to come in and play against seasoned vets. It’s not just about size and strength. He has to develop his mind to play effectively too. He’s still in his infancy and will take time to become the player we all want him to be. The good thing is he has a lot of talent to work with.

  19. This season, new defensive coordinator Eric Mangini is using Reid in all kinds of ways, like lining him up in the box. Mangini may need to re-think that one.
    ———————–
    It hasn’t worked over a short sampling so lets toss the whole thing out the window. Or, let’s give the relatively young player more time to learn and gel in his new role. Which one is the better choice?

    1. That’s not a fair question to us fans in this overreaction week! Release the bums, fire the coaches, sack the front office — start over again!!

  20. I do not think it inappropriate to discuss the possibility of a line change. Pears was not only dreadful, he was a liability with all his drive killing penalties.
    If Devey wants to watch the game, he should do it from the side line. On one of Kaep’s sacks, Devey just stood and watched as the player ran right by him.
    Coach Tomsula must be proactive. If he wants to win games, he must stop being a nice guy who is loyal to his players, and channel some of that Bill Walsh attitude and be unkind, cold and calculating, and maybe hurt some feelings before they hurt the season.
    If Coach Tomsula wants to be stubborn and keep the same line up, Ok, but he could change the line up later in the game. Maybe he could rotate in players and see how they do, and if he finds a player working out well, he could keep him in that position.
    After last game, no player, even Staley, should feel secure in keeping his job. They need to play like they might lose their job.

    1. I’m certain there was miscommunication between Kap and Staley and Pears in each of the two sacks where the rushers just ran by the tackles. All that needs to be cleaned up.

      If think Tomsula should be who he is. Bill Walsh was both GM and coach. if Tomsula is the good cop, Baalke is more than ready to assume the mantle of the bad cop.

    2. Seb when Walsh was “unkind, cold and calculating” and he had no talent he got his ass kicked. See 79 and 80. Tomsula has no more offensive talent in the O line than Walsh did in 79 and 80 and i’m sorry to say but our O line is probably going to continue to get its ass kicked for most of the rest of the year regardless of kindness or the lack there of. imho

    1. Arizona should have won the division easily last year if it wasn’t for the injuries to their QBs. I think they were 9 – 1 at one point and then the third string QB started playing.
      It’s a tough game against our boys on the road this week, but I hope for an upset.

      1. The surest way to an upset would be for the enemy QB to go down on his first passing play. It wouldn’t hurt if the second QB did the same thing. :-{

        1. Didn’t Arizona’s backup QB beat us a couple years ago? What was his name? Not Skelton, but another guy? Anyone, anyone?

          1. Actually Skelton did beat the Niners a few years ago when he had to start. Stanton beat them last year in AZ. The history there is hit and miss as there have been some good games – Alex Smith’s nearly perfect Monday night game and some disasters like that game Skelton started and won. Hopefully we are in a win year.

  21. I think the true 9ers will not be known til at least 5 weeks. And until then can media get off nitpicking Tomsula and what he does and does not do in the locker room. Give him some time, let him do it his way, then praise or rip based on results…but 4F’sSake let him coach..

    1. Who is stopping anyone coaching?

      At the end of five weeks, two wins would be a good outcome. Splitting the next four would be a very good outcome. That would be four wins by the break. If they do that well, then six out of the seven remaining games would get them a chance for the playoffs but they would have no tie breakers in their own division against the current top two teams. Look for Seattle to start winning this week.

  22. About “letting him coach” I was referring to the latest from Lowell in the SRPD where LC was critiquing Tomsula’s locker room actions/behaviors….we can’t know if Jimbo’s style will translate to sustainable winning until a body of work is amassed (IMHO)

    1. Why would Tomsula be effected by something Lowell wrote? If Tomsula is going to be an effective coach he will learn and modify his approach on the job. Any advise he looks for isn’t likely to come from columnists.

      Any head coach is open to critique from dopes like us, and members of the third estate. They don’t need us for protection.

      Lowell was accurate when he pointed out that it was Tomsula’s choice to do what he did in public when it could have been done in private. He’s also accurate that it’s not something that other coaches have been doing the past sixty years that I know about. Lowell’s comments about why Tomsula did it in public are his own subjective viewpoint which does tend heavily toward the negative.

  23. “It ain’t over til it’s over.”
    The day that it was over came much too soon for this sad Yankees fan.
    R.I.P. Yogi Berra.

      1. Here’s the aphorism of Yogic wisdom in trying to guess which Niner team will show up on Sunday: “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”

  24. At this point, just looking purely at the schedules and performances of the 49ers, Seahawks and Cardinals, I can see the following end of year records:

    Cardinal = 11-5. Easiest schedule in division by wide margin. Absolute travesty.

    Seahawks = 10 -6. Tough schedule, still best team in division.

    49ers = 7-9/8-8. Horribly difficult schedule in terms of travel vs home games. Based on last year the 49ers deserved better. NFL did them no favors. Based on this possibility, I could see 49ers trade Kaep (although looking better) to go after Jared Goff in draft. Local product, classic pocket passer, uncanny accuracy (highest ceiling I’ve seen since Luck) and 49ers have tons of ammunition. Just not sure Jed (less Baalke) will let another Aaron Rodger situation pass us by.

    Rams = Not even going to waste my time. They will win 6-7 games…again. Foles is not the answer.

    Thoughts?

    1. If the Niners traded Kaep to another team, he would haunt the Niners like Haley did when he went to Dallas.
      There is no guarantee that a college QB is going to automatically be a SB QB. Look at all the failures. Gabbert, Luck is 0-2, Jamarcus Russel, RGIII, David Carr, Bradford, Stafford, V Young, Alex Smith, Cam, Ryan.
      Kaep has skills that make him the most dangerous QB in the league. What other QB can put his foot on the 1 yard line, then sprint upfield for 99 yards untouched? Kaep is a SB QB who got to the big dance after only 10 games.
      Next you will be calling for a Kaep for Tebow trade.

    2. The 49ers may need to lose more than nine games to have a shot at Goff in the draft. I don’t see them doing a mega trade, and I don’t see them getting rid of a functioning Kaepernick before they have a better option ready to play. As for Rogers, he had three years to get ready.

  25. To add to my point, the main thing I see is the Cardinals schedule is balanced from beginning to end. The 49ers is front-loaded with extremely tough games, many on road. Conceivably, the 49ers could be 2-6 at halfway point. Huge hole to climb out of. Cardinals could be exact opposite. How many years in a row has NFL handed us these insane schedules. The difference was were we were light years better than the other teams. We are now young and somewhere in the middle. Tomsula is going to earn every scent he is due this year.

  26. This is just coach talk, right?

    “It’s obvious to me as a quarterback coach … He has progressed as a pocket passer.” — Bruce Arians on Colin Kaepernick.

      1. 03/16/2013 – 2013 Clemson Pro Day: Jaron Brown, WR (6-2 3/8, 204 pounds) – Brown ran the 40-yard dash in 4.43 and 4.40 seconds. He had a 35 1/2-inch vertical, a 10-foot-4 broad jump, a 4.07-second short shuttle, a 6.82-second three-cone drill and did 17 reps of 225 pounds. “He looked good catching the ball. He was not invited to the combine, but he had a good work out,” NFL.com’s Gil Brandt said. – Gil Brandt, NFL.com
        Arizona Receiving

        REC

        YDS

        AVG

        TD

        LONG

        TGTS

        Larry Fitzgerald 8 112 14.0 3 28 9
        John Brown 5 45 9.0 0 13 5
        Jaron Brown 2 20 10.0 1 14 3
        Jermaine Gresham 1 5 5.0 0 5 1
        David Johnson 1 3 3.0 0 3 2
        Chris Johnson 0 0 0.0 0 0 1
        Michael Floyd 0 0 0.0 0 0 1
        J.J. Nelson 0 0 0.0 0 0 1

      2. Not just for #7, the entire organization. This weeks game will be a great barometer to see if we are contenders or major rebuild!

  27. I am not going to thump a dead horse, but that second half performance was a team gut check. The spotlight tends to narrow depending on partiality- ala Kaepernick’s first half performance v. his 106 QB rating. However, in doing so, at times we are unable to accentuate the good. Remember playing street football? The score did not matter all we wanted to do was toss and catch the pigskin until everybody got rubber arm-losers walk! For a lifetime of football, this never changes “every” play is onto itself. Kaepernick calls some of them moral victories I call them a thing of beauty. I wonder what Gronkowski would say? Heck, 60 moral victories per game might well lead to a W on paper. Perhaps Kaepernick should keep the faith maybe he forgot. Are we not all 49ers faithful? By whatever measure Kaepernick’s second half performance was a thing of beauty. Small, positive steps my good friends. Have a great day.

    1. Through two games, Kaepernick has scrambled three times out of twenty-one third down attempts. Jefferson, a third year pro, clearly graduated from the same school as Tom Dumb….

    2. The question isn’t whether Kaep is better, the question is by how much? Will Kaep become a franchise QB? If he doesn’t, they will move on this year. You don’t win SB’s without a franchise QB. Jed knows that better than anyone. He grew up watching two of the greatest. Depending on how things go (and no one has any idea based on the first two games), Jared Goff could make too make too much sense to pass on in next years draft (local product will increase interest and potentially provide a franchise QB for next 10 years).

  28. “Chip Kelly: My play calling isn’t too predictable, problem is execution”
    ————–
    That isn’t going to make too many friends in the locker room but it’s the right answer. Too bad Roman never sacked up and gave any of the local guys this honest of an answer.

    1. Include Grant also (it goes w/o saying) as a go to guy also on all views NFL.
      (Sorry to exclude both Sebby and RaidersEatery (Razor), but you both fumble way too much!

  29. Greg Cosell on Bruce Arians

    The Cardinals have an elite WR corps.
    “one of the best a designing multiple and diverse complex rout concepts that confuse coverages”
    “The 49ers are going to have to be on their game in one-on-one coverage.”

    1. TomD: I’m going to start watching all their games. I think JClayton thinks they’re the team in our div. to beat right now.

    2. As is the case with Kap misreading coverages and padding his stats with Pitt ahead big in the (4th, 29-3), Seb’s continual disagreements with professional writers re: Kaepernick, will come to an end this weekend as Kap loses big time.

      1. TomD I don’t know whether you played or coached the game but if you did then you have to know that sports writers generally speaking have very little knowledge of the X’s and O’s or any teaching techniques. There strength is inside knowledge of what goes on in the building and hopefully exceptional writing skills. So whether Seb agrees or disagrees with writers makes his opinion no stronger or weaker it just makes it his opinion.

        1. I admit that I have never played the game and have never coached a football squad.
          However, I had played soccer until my ankle injury, from 1970 til 2006. I was the left fullback, so I was usually matched against their fastest player, and played collegiate soccer and years of club soccer.
          I also helped coach the local HS team to their area championship and have volunteered to coach co-ed soccer, so I do have rudimentary coaching skills.
          I am a 49er fan, unlike TrollD and Mary who troll this site just to make their life have some meaning. I have witnessed those ugly Debartolo beginnings and have experienced the glory years. Those memories will sustain me, and TrollD hurling insults and sounding like an imbecile will not make my outlook any less hopeful or optimistic.
          Finally, I am a student of the game, and study strategy on many levels and different genre. I do not claim to be the smartest man in the world, and have been proven wrong many times, while taking it with a grin to bear it.

  30. Scooter,

    Greg Cosell’s podcast is up on KNBR.

    http://www.knbr.com/all-knbr-podcasts/

    Greg mainly talks about the defense and the O-Line and lack of pass rush, which will be issues throughout the year. At the end he’s asked about Kaep’s play and you can listen and decide if you agree or disagree.

    Two games is a very small sample so we don’t know where Kaep will end up at the end of the year.

    1. Like we’ve been saying for the better part of 9 months, incremental improvement by Kaepernick in his pocket presence, touch, progressions is a realistic expectation, and after two games in, that’s exactly what we are seeing. Even with the offensive lines woes, I expect him to continue ascending upward in those areas as the season progresses….

      1. Steelers up 29-3
        Easy to complete passes when coverage lets you: here it is in their own words:

        http://isportsweb.com/2015/09/21/pittsburgh-steelers-blow-out-san-francisco-
        49ers-43-18/

        Kaepernick’s 335 yards are a bit misleading, as much of that came in the second half with the 49ers down big and the Steelers playing soft coverage. A blown assignment and a missed tackle by Will Allen led to a 75-yard touchdown to Torrey Smith in the fourth quarter, which helped to pad Kaepernick’s stats as well, but that was the only huge mistake the secondary made. There’s certainly still room for improvement, but it was encouraging to see the pass defense rebound from an ugly start to the year.

        1. RaidersEatery and Seb,

          Sounds like you really don’t understand the game of football. You are both remedial in your viewing skills….
          A defense plays soft in the 4th Qtr., with a big lead to prevent injury. They let you catch passes underneath and tackle to run clock, thus ending the game quicker.

      2. What you’ve been saying is that Kaep needs to make small incremental improvements just to do what every other NFL QB is supposed to do. You praise him like he’s a baby learning how to walk.

        This is his 5th year in the league.

              1. You’re down with your friend Julio, his condition breeds ammunition and shoots you in the face….

        1. Fan,

          We point out the incremental improvements in the areas Kap needs to get better in such as playing from the pocket, but he also possess’ skills other QB’s don’t like his mobility and ability to throw on the run. He’s won a lot of games in his 2 and a half years as a starter basically by using his athleticism and not making too many mistakes. Now the next step in his development is curbing the urge to use his legs and keeping his eyes focused downfield as long as possible. He’s definitely improved in this area in the first two games.

          The biggest problem I see with your argument is the use of hyperbole when talking about him. JPN pointed that out earlier and I agree. There is no middle ground in your opinion. He either has to be perfect and overcome the obstacles that hinder his performance like the Oline, dropped passes etc, or you criticize him without regard to the reasons why. Try accepting the fact he’s trying to become a completely different QB to what he’s been all his life before becoming a pro, and look at his progress from day one to where he is now, instead of comparing him to the elite QB’s in the game.

          He’s never going to be Rodgers, but he could be a better version of Randall Cunningham which this team has and could continue to win a lot of games with.

          1. Rocket,

            I don’t think there should be a middle ground because there should be a bar that he needs to reach. We’re past grooming the guy. This is his third year as a starter, 5th in the league and we talk about his improvements like he’s a rookie.

            It’s not his fault they brought him in too fast.

            Colin is an enigma because he’s capable of making amazing plays, but he struggles with the ordinary and the routine.

            This is pretty much a rebuilding year so all jokes aside about Gabbert, this is the year to see what he can do, and see if the improvement sticks, and how much he moves his needle from the previous year. I want the needle moved farther, but also know he’s got 14 more games to go, and we’re only 2 games in, so that’s not a true sample, good or bad.

            His completion percentage is way up, and turnovers are down. Those are good things. The pass to Torrie Smith was signs for encouragement.

            When I checked out the Ninersnation link, I wasn’t too bothered about his decision to pass to MacDonald when he passed up Patton. It was the execution of his pass. Cosell’s comment on Kaep, agree or disagree, was that he still makes pre-determined throws. That’s an example of a play where he knew he was going there, and didn’t consider other options. He also had another WR just about to break free in the end zone and with his arm strength could have taken a shot in the corner.

            If the goal is to get better, then there’s some things in the GIFs that show he’s got to clean up his footwork, develop other options when the pocket breaks down. His first reaction is flight, when sometimes it should be I just gotta get rid of the ball. On the sack for the 17 yard loss, he ran backwards to try to evade the rush bearing down on him. Sometimes this works and sometimes he gets caught. This happened last year too. He had a short route to Boldin, could have short hopped it like Alex Smith used to do. I know I brought that dude up. I’m not saying Smith is better, it’s that Kaep doesn’t consider that option at all and Alex does it way too much. After a 17 yard loss, it’s a short punt, and Ben throws a TD.
            I’s alot easier to analyze after the fact, as opposed to what happened in real time. It’s not nit-picking, it’s emphasized hindsight!

            It’s not easy being an top tier NFL QB. Not anyone can reach those standards, just like how not anyone can be a NAVY Seal.

            1. See, when you want to you can analyze something objectively.

              This is the middle ground I’m referring too. Instead of blaming Kap because they didn’t score enough points for example, it’s about looking at why that was the case.

              I don’t disagree that he still has some bad habits and I don’t think anyone else does either. I think what gets people riled up is the refusal to see the positives and talk about them along with the negatives. We all know he struggles in the pocket and have admitted that. What I look for is signs of improvement and he’s showing that. He’s been winning games since year two with his running ability and playaction when the running game is effective. The next step is to be able to carry the offense when the running game isn’t effective and the pocket is being contained. That’s what I liked about Sunday. Whether it was in a blowout or not, I saw him stay in a throwing position and keep his eyes focused instead of reacting to the bodies around him and taking off. That is a big step for him if he can maintain it going forward.

              1. I agree Fan. When you make posts like the one above you can make a lot of good points about Kaep.

                I think it all comes down to what I said above – for you Kaep needs to be an elite QB now. Anything less than perfection on every play shows a guy that isn’t good enough.

                Rocket and I (and everyone else that argues with your posts) look at it from the point of view of he’s a QB the team has already had a lot of success despite his warts, and from what we’ve seen this season he is making some very positive strides in those areas of weakness which should make him an even more successful QB moving forward. We are looking for different things (perfection vs improvement), thus we end up having different opinions on where he’s at as a player.

              2. David Neumann published a nice analysis of Kap of his performance over the last two games and with some comparison stats he’s been keeping since last year. He reviews All-22 film. I think you’ll see a a gif or two where Kap did not flee the pocket, but instead stood tall, made the throw, and took a hit. IMO, Neumann tends to be pretty fair in his assessments.

                http://www.ninersnation.com/2015/9/23/9381571/all-22-colin-kaepernick-is-the-49ers-biggest-bright-spot-through-two

    1. The neat thing is that there doesn’t seem to be a lot of GMs jumping on the Baalke Method Band Wagon, so Baalke will have more such candidates to choose from. Someday, someone may call it the Frank Gore Curse.

  31. Boys — I’m looking at your next 9 games and I see you maybe beating the Giants. This is going to be interesting. Did I mention Kam is back? Maybe the Seahawk season can be salveged.

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