There’s been a lot of debate lately about whether the 49ers should pass the ball more to Vernon Davis. Here are some stats to help inform the discussion: Last season, the 49ers targeted Vernon Davis on 21 percent of their passes. They targeted Michael Crabtree 25 percent of the time. This season, Crabtree is still receiving a quarter of 49ers the targets, but Davis’ target percentage has dropped to 17…
There’s been a lot of discussion here the past few days about whether 49ers’ offensive coordinator Greg Roman is doing a good enough job getting the ball to his best player in the passing game – tight end Vernon Davis. When designing a passing game, an offensive coordinator has what are called “people passes,” and then he also has “patterns” that have progressions that can be influenced by coverage. For…
The 49ers’ record is 5-2, but their offense still isn’t that good – it has scored 13-or-fewer points in three of their first seven games. Which brings me to the question of the day: Who is offensive coordinator Greg Roman, and what is his coaching history? Here it is, as provided by the 49ers media guide. 2009-10: Tight Ends/Offensive Tackles/Running Game Coordinator, Stanford. More from the 49ers media guide: “Roman’s…
I’ve been watching the coaches’ film of the 49ers 13-6 win over the Seattle Seahawks this morning. I’ve been looking for the Y-Stick and the Y-Stick Lookie. Those are basic pass plays designed for the tight end – Vernon Davis. He runs a quick hitch in the middle of the field. The quarterback takes a three-step drop from undercenter and throws the ball to Davis. It’s an easy way to…
Yesterday I asked Jim Harbaugh about the percentages of coach involvement in the offensive game planning on a weekly basis, and surprisingly, Harbaugh said it’s primarily a Greg Roman production. If the 49ers offense has a bad game, that means Roman missed or misread something when analyzing his opponent during his game planning. Bill Walsh was the sole game planner in his first tenure at Stanford and for the Niners,…
SANTA CLARA – Jim Harbaugh spoke to Bay Area reporters in the 49ers’ defensive meeting room Friday afternoon. Here’s what he said about Vernon Davis’ performance against the Seahawks. HARBAUGH: “Vernon had one of his best games. His blocking was outstanding. Certainly, the touchdown block highlights it, but he’s blocking Red Bryant pretty consistently the entire game. He just did one heck of a job and allowed our center, our…
Vernon Davis, the most explosive player on the 49ers offense, caught zero passes in the 49ers 13-6 win over the Seahawks. Alex Smith didn’t throw it to him once. After the game, Davis told the San Francisco Chronicle: “Nothing’s there. When I run my corner routes the cornerback is dropping to the corner. They are just taking stuff away, some of my explosive routes and stuff.” Ironically, various 49er players…
SAN FRANCISCO — Frank Gore was the star of the 49ers 13-6 win over the Seattle Seahawks. He spoke at the podium after the game, and here’s what he said, courtesy of the 49ers. Did you have the feeling that the game was going to be like this, where you get the ball a lot? “I just felt like whenever my coach called my number, I tried my best….
SAN FRANCISCO – The 49ers beat the Seahawks 13-6. Here are the grades for the 49ers’ coaches. Coaching: A. The story of this game is the offensive adjustments Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman made at halftime. They only called 10 rushing plays in the first half – not enough – and as a result the 49ers were losing by three at halftime. In the second half, the 49ers ran the…
SANTA CLARA — Here’s what Greg Roman said Tuesday about his game plan against the Giants. Q: After the game, Jim Harbaugh said the game plan wasn’t the best. Did you feel that way after the game? ROMAN: The responsibility of the offense falls on my feet, and when we don’t produce enough, that falls on me. Obviously we need a better plan, we need to coach the plan better…
SANTA CLARA — Here’s what Greg Roman said about the Seattle Seahawks defense at his Tuesday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers. Opening Statement: “Good afternoon. We’re back in the division. The Seattle Seahawks defense, I think, they’re ranked fourth overall statistically. Pretty high against the run, they play a lot of man coverage outside, their corners are doing a real good job. Their secondary has great length. They’re…
SANTA CLARA – At his press conference Tuesday afternoon, I asked Greg Roman five questions about Colin Kaepernick. Here’s what Roman said. ME: Why are you playing Colin Kaepernick so much? What are you hoping to get from him that you aren’t getting from Alex Smith? ROMAN: Colin’s doing a nice job in his understudy role. There are times when Colin can bring in a different dynamic to the game,…
I’ve been thinking a lot about how the 49ers should use backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick. I think he deserves playing time. He’s one of the best weapons on the offense. I don’t think he’s going to play much against the Seahawks, though. I expect Jim Harbaugh to go conservative, rush Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter more than 30 times combined to get the offense back on track, so to speak….
SAN FRANCISCO — Here are the Week 6 coaching grades for the 49ers. Coaching: F. This was the worst game of Greg Roman’s professional career. He did not establish a running game in the first half – he called 19 passes and 10 runs. He made the same mistake against the Vikings and his offense only scored 13 points. This time, against a much worse defense than the Vikings, Roman’s…
The Giants are going to beat the 49ers 21-20. The Giants are going to view this game as a battle against an opponent who is attempting to mount a push to dislodge them from the throne. This game will not be just another ordinary non-divisional contest for the Giants. Because of Tom Coughlin, the Giants have the ability to rise from the ashes when everybody counts them out. Don’t be shocked…
SANTA CLARA — Here’s what Greg Roman said about Alex Smith and the 49ers offense at the Thursday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers. Can you just talk a little bit about QB Alex Smith and the improvement you’ve seen in him and what may have allowed him to take what looks like a pretty big leap this year? “I think Alex is performing exactly as we hope any…
SANTA CLARA — Greg Roman spoke after Vic Fangio in the media tent Thursday afternoon. Here’s what Roman said about the New York Giants defense, courtesy of the 49ers. Opening Statement: “Good afternoon. Getting ready to play the Giants here. A really smart, savvy defense. They know how to win. Really starts with their defensive front, very talented players, very smart, heady players. They know how to change things…
The 49ers play the Giants on Sunday at Candlestick. In the meantime, I’ll break down a couple of key matchups per day. LT Joe Staley vs. DE Jason Pierre-Paul and DE Osi Umenyiora Staley did not play well against the Giants last Season. Week 10, he gave up 1 sack, 1 QB hit and 3 QB hurries to Pierre-Paul and Umenyiora. That was the worst game of the season for…
The 49ers play the Giants at Candlestick on Sunday. In the meantime, I’ll break down a couple of key matchups per day. The 49ers running attack vs. the Giants run defense This is a lopsided match up. The 49ers average 6.1 yards per rush – that’s No.1 in the league by almost a full yard per carry. The Giants defense allows 4.5 yards per carry – 25th best in the…
SAN FRANCISCO — Greg Roman’s post game press conference, courtesy of the 49ers. Feeling pretty good after that performance? “It was a good performance. I think we left some out there. We had some frustrating penalties in the first half. But, we came in at halftime, regrouped. Just decided we were going to start over. That turnover before the half I think was big, to get it in there….
