Ravens 9 - 49ers 7: Ummm....We are what we thought we were

by David Fucillo on Oct 7, 2007 4:40 PM PDT in San Francisco 49ers News

Once again the 49ers come out on the short end of the stick in a game they certainly had a chance at winning. Joe Nedney has been money up to this point, but he couldn't get the 52 yarder down the pipes. The defense had a chance to stop the Ravens and couldn't quite make enough plays in the end. It was a noticeably boring game where neither offense could make things happen. As far as I'm concerned, if you're a betting man, take the under in every 49ers game the rest of the way. The defense is playing solid bend but don't break and giving the offense plenty of opportunities to try and make things happen. Unfortunately, the offense can't step up and make their own plays.

So what is there to take away from this game? Well you'd better have some soda or other legal stimulant by your side because we could be in for some real snoozers. The 49ers offense managed 2 big plays the entire game and they came on the one scoring drive. Bryan Gilmore made a sweet catch and then Dilfer threaded the needle on the touchdown pass to Arnaz Battle. Dilfer's line finished up ok, but it wasn't quite as good as it would appear. Nonetheless he didn't kill the team. Not exactly the most inspiring words I've ever written, but it's something we'll have to deal with.

So the 49ers head into the bye week in a 3-game tailspin. Frank Gore is simply not able to get the holes he had last year. It feels almost like the problems Edgerrin James had all last year in his first season with the Cardinals. He's doing everything he can, but this is too much of a team sport and one man can only do so much.

All I can hope for over the bye week is that Nolan and company can figure something out with the offense. The 49ers defense is good, but it's not at the level of the 2000 Ravens, where they can afford to have an inept offense. This is a struggling team that doesn't seem to have much direction. They get the Giants after the bye, which makes for an interesting matchup. The Giants are 3-2, but they've also been wildly inconsistent. Even there win over the Jets today started off with Eli Manning rocking a 0.0 rating in the first half. Either way, the 49ers will once again have their work cut out for them.

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Fire Jim Hostler that pathetic motherfucker right now. It's time.

Merton Hanks, 'nuff said.

by jtoj on Oct 7, 2007 5:10 PM PDT reply actions

yep

fire hostler

he's terrible, but who is there for us to get, Denny Green? anyone is better than hostler at this point

by Vote4Gore on Oct 7, 2007 5:34 PM PDT reply actions

Hostler...

maybe hoss doesn't understand, but usually when you design plays on 3rd and long to get 2 yards you don't pick up a first down. i counted 4 times that this happened and that was just the first half! i know that part of that blame falls on dilfer, but still...how bout some routes that actually cross the first down? fire his ass now and let's go get Marty

by montanamagic on Oct 7, 2007 5:59 PM PDT reply actions

I was thinking about it

And it seems to me that we originally had a lot of frustration with Hostler as an uninventive playcaller. Then we got some creative playcalls, and the offense was getting the same results.

But the problem doesn't really seem to be the types of plays that are getting called. Hostler can mix it up as much as he wants and he's still going to get the exact same results and I believe I finally understand why.

It's because even though he's calling all sorts of plays, he's not calling any that either adjust to or exploit the opposing defense in any way. 8 men in the box? Ok, why not do something to spread those 8 guys out? Quick outs to the sidelines at 4-6 yards a pop? Something.

But he gets 8 men in the box and thinks "we've been running inside, nothing, outside, nothing, paper rock scissors tells me to pass!" and then calls a five step drop.

Yeah, the pass is mixing it up against the defense, but it's not exploiting the holes that defense creates because you're still playing into the rush.

Anyway, somebody else could get into this a lot better than I can. It's just something that struck me today about this offense: the difference between "mixing it up" and "adjusting." I don't think Hostler gets that distinction. And as much as Norv might not have been the super whiz people think he is, at least he did.

I mean, it's not like the team can't evaluate what a defense is doing. Nolan, Singletary, Manusky. All these guys are bright defensive minds who can feed Hostler a ton of info that he should be able to exploit even a little bit. But whatever...

Good Bye.

I keep reliving the moment when Steve Young almost fell down. Over and over. / My Blog, For Writers

by howtheyscored on Oct 7, 2007 6:08 PM PDT reply actions

Not to mention

That when he does decide to get creative with the playcalling, it's almost always the worst possible time. Such as that retarded reverse on 3rd and 2. It's just baffling and stupid. Sure they can use the excuse, "well, if this or that had happened the play would have been successful, blah blah blah." However, they can only use that so many times before the sample size issues they are trying to exploit are no longer sample size issues. The offensive playcalling is stupid, that is it. If they're going to make a change, which I highly doubt, do it now so there are two weeks to prepare with a new offensive coordinator.

Fire Conservative Playcalling Now.

by marcello on Oct 7, 2007 6:30 PM PDT up reply actions

I just don't get why

they can't look at what a defense is doing, say "here's where they have holes to run at or pass into, and here's how much time we have on a given play to hit those holes," and then do it. Instead it's like "Well, we tried running on second down last time, if it doesn't work the next few times we'll definitely pass the ball instead," with no regard to where those runs or passes are going with relation to the defense.

I keep reliving the moment when Steve Young almost fell down. Over and over. / My Blog, For Writers

by howtheyscored on Oct 7, 2007 6:34 PM PDT up reply actions

No clue either

I'm curious to see what happens two weeks from now. I'm somewhat skeptical that things will get better. I can't imagine my emotional state/anger level if it doesn't.

Fire Conservative Playcalling Now.

by marcello on Oct 7, 2007 10:47 PM PDT up reply actions

Excellent point

You just hit the nail on the head. It's about adjusting as the game goes on. You've got scouting reports on defense's and you know a lot of tendencies by this point. And even if you don't know enough going into the game, you can figure things out in the first half when they're shutting you down.

I've never been a big fan of screen plays, but I do think that some quick out patterns would be perfect. What about bringing Battle in motion into a slot position and running a quick out or flat pattern? It seems so simple at times.

Niners Nation - The premier 49ers blog on the Internet!

by David Fucillo on Oct 7, 2007 6:35 PM PDT up reply actions

Marty?

wasnt marty a defensive coordinator and then a head coach, does he have any experience as an offensive coordinator

by Vote4Gore on Oct 7, 2007 6:08 PM PDT reply actions

Well

He's clearly not offense deficient. I don't know if he's naturally offensive minded, and he's got his share of conservative problems, but I think he nonetheless obviously knows a thing or two about moving the ball.

I keep reliving the moment when Steve Young almost fell down. Over and over. / My Blog, For Writers

by howtheyscored on Oct 7, 2007 6:17 PM PDT up reply actions

To think

My hopes in the prediction game this week rest on the shoulders of Green Bay and Dallas (both to win).

My mid-nineties self is vomiting as we speak. I think I'd be pretty happy taking the hit and falling as few spots in the standings. Yuck. I feel dirty.

I keep reliving the moment when Steve Young almost fell down. Over and over. / My Blog, For Writers

by howtheyscored on Oct 7, 2007 6:30 PM PDT reply actions

yeh

I hate rooting for the packers and cowboys too. I hit the nail on the head with the Indy game but I think someone guessed 34-14 and it was 33-14 so my 30-14 guess will only be good enough for second.

Bring back the classic Uni's!

by wjackalope on Oct 7, 2007 7:02 PM PDT up reply actions

ok so

I blame the losses almost entirely on the offense. The playcalling is bad, they don't adjust, the OL is playing crappy, this is all well worn territory.

Despite that, we almost won today, and if Nedney hit that field goal, we probably would have. The defense is keeping us in games, but it's not winning games for us. Why not? They're not creating turnovers. Think about the Ravens 2000 defense - without looking at stats I would assume they were like +30 in turnovers that season.

Our offense is not very good, but as we've seen, can put together a few good plays and get the ball in the endzone. In the first few games we got some turnovers and had short fields to work with. Hence, we scored more. In the losses, we haven't had many turnovers.

So I'm not blaming the defense, but it seems to me that with the offense this bad, they need short fields to work with. To get those short fields the defense has to create turnovers.

When we get Smith and Davis and Jennings (and maybe Hill) back, we should be at least a little better. If the D keeps playing well, and gets a few more turnovers, and we have a slightly better offense, we can still win a bunch of games. I've been really pessimistic the last few weeks, but I'm trying to look on the bright side. The season isn't totally lost.

Bring back the classic Uni's!

by wjackalope on Oct 7, 2007 7:08 PM PDT reply actions

What should be done versus what can be done

The truth is that it's almost impossible to change coaches at this stage of the season unless you've already thrown in the towel. The Niners are 2-3 with a lot of (what should be) easy games on the schedule. You don't change horses in midstream unless you've given up.

However, what is clear is that the offense has been handled terribly this year. While the new wide receivers were an upgrade to what had been here last year, the coaching has not developed a cohesive passing game. The line-blocking has deteriorated drastically from last year, further ruining the passing game and the running game. The play-calling has been conservative, in part because the lineplay has been so atrocious. I believe that was why Davis wasn't active in the passing offense in the first two games. Is Hostler in over his head? It appears so.

At a certain point it's someone's fault for not getting the right players or it's someone's fault for not coaching the players to do the right thing.

I do believe Nolan's conservative philosophy probably unduly influences Hostler. But if you know how to coach you do what's right.

I suspect no matter what happens we're going to endure a conservative offense for the rest of the year. Hopefully, it'll be more effective.

by Bob In Pacifica on Oct 7, 2007 7:52 PM PDT reply actions

Marty Shotenhimer

Will Marty even take an offensive coordinator job or does he want to be a coach now and only a coach? and i kind of like him as a coach but wasn't he more of a defensive minded coach? Last time i remember Marty isn't known for offense creativity so i don't think he's the man for the job.

The play before Joe Nedney missed the potential game winning 50+ yard punt the 49ers ran the ball on 3rd & 12 i believe now that's being pretty damn Conservative, If they just made 1 nice passing play (which is easier said than done for this offense) that would of obviously put Joe Nedney in closer range to make the field goal and thats what they probally should have done there was conservative play calling pretty much the whole game so couldn't they take a chance to win the game? I'm just saying, If the offense got Nedney a bit closer that would of won the game.

by rimrock101 @ Niners Nation on Oct 7, 2007 10:56 PM PDT reply actions

Well, not with the kick he actually made

Nedney just flat-out shanked that one. It had plenty of distance but missed the uprights by a good five yards.

Once again, I feel like Hostler's poor understanding of game theory cost the Niners badly. I find I can predict with near certainty whether the Niners will run or pass on any given play, based on the game situation. On the few occasions when they changed things up, it was like a 5-step dropback pass on first down, which is relatively easy for the defense to recognize and adjust to.

However, I'm also growing resigned to the fact that the receivers in this offense are just not good enough to get open. If the line would actually play at the level they're capable of, the 49ers could have an average offense. But they can't have a good offense as long as Davis is the only decent pass catcher. Even when he's healthy, he'll just get constantly double-teamed.

It doesn't matter if you get there if you don't know where you're going.

by Zagarna on Oct 8, 2007 9:19 AM PDT up reply actions

Slight disagreement

I think both Battle and Jackson have proven in the past that they are capable of getting open.

Fire Conservative Playcalling Now.

by marcello on Oct 8, 2007 9:37 AM PDT up reply actions

Agreed

I think you're totally right, in the past d-jack and battle have shown that big play ability and the ability to be consistent playmakers. This offense's woes begin and end with the play of the offensive line. Every time the QB drops back to pass he has hardly any time to make even a short throw, that's why most completions are dink and dumps to gore or whoever is in the backfield.

by montanamagic on Oct 9, 2007 10:25 PM PDT up reply actions

Nolan

I understand the idea of having a head coach and two coordinators. It relieves each of the three coaches from spreading themselves too thin in responsibilities. However, when it comes to situational playcalling that will affect the outcome in the game, I'm pretty darn sure Nolan makes those calls.

After Gore caught the 19 yard (I think) pass, the 49ers went straight into conservative mode. They did NOT want a sack that would have pushed them further back and out of field position. I really don't have much gripe with the way those last plays were called. As someone else noted, Nedney shanked the ball, it didn't fall short. He even admits the ball just didn't come off of his foot right.

by sfgfan on Oct 9, 2007 9:25 AM PDT up reply actions