49ers 37 - Arizona 31: VICTORY IS OURS!

by Fooch on Nov 25, 2007 4:54 PM PST in News Comment 37 comments

I'm so spent from this victory that I'm just opening up a thread for victory discussions. I had this picture, the picture of the middle finger kid and a picture of a kid crying. Thank goodness I could use this one. This team did everything they could to blow it, but they fought back and didn't give up. The 49ers may only be 3-8, but right now I really don't care.

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As a victory reward

I'm going to post a first ever early result on the prediction game for this game! Sucks to be all you jerks who predicted the 49ers loss! On the other hand, the three of us who picked win couldn't have done it without all of your overwhelming reverse jinxes.

sfgfan (23-17) - 28
HowTheyScored (20-18) - 34
jtoj (15-14) - 44

Oh, sfgfan got the points... on second thought, not sure if that makes anybody feel better after the win....

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

by howtheyscored on Nov 25, 2007 5:01 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

j/k

congrats SFG. Keep up the healthy optimism!

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

by howtheyscored on Nov 25, 2007 5:02 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I didn't think I'd get any points...

... for this particular game. I suppose, like you, I owe big thanks to those who picked against the 49ers.

by sfgfan on Nov 26, 2007 10:06 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I really can't keep from LOLing

At the Cards' Self-Shannahaning.

I'm just glad that in a game which neither team deserved to come come out of with a win, it was our team that ultimately did.

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

by howtheyscored on Nov 25, 2007 5:04 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Yeah...

All I did was laugh after that missed field goal. This game represented both teams so well.

by cheno on Nov 25, 2007 5:22 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

If the Niners lost this game...

I would have had to go out and adopt a dog, just so I could kick him.

j/k I love dogs, especially BBQ'd ones.

I think I would have preferred the strange irony of winning with a safety because it fit the strangeness of this game.

First time poster here, btw.

Bring back the dropkick!

by McFood on Nov 25, 2007 5:30 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Welcome!

Have you been a lurker thusfar? I hope you're enjoying yourself here.

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

by howtheyscored on Nov 25, 2007 5:38 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

The Sweet Taste

I AM ON CLOUD F'IN 49!!! Not only did i get to watch that sweet enzone recovery, it wasn't a safety cause Warner shat himself and droped the ball for Banta-Cain to land on but i got to watch it with a pitcher of beer to the head and a laugh in the face of some Sparrow fans.
3 n' 8 never felt so great!!!

by NinerInLA on Nov 25, 2007 6:04 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

a win is a win

is a win is a win is a WIN! And boy does it feel good. the offense looked halfway competent for once, gore had a great game, and Dilfer proved he can be a viable backup. The D was fairly porous most of the game but they made a few big plays when we needed them most. I'll take it.

Bring back the classic Uni's!

by wjackalope on Nov 25, 2007 6:05 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

play calling

The play calling was actually quite good today... Lots of early play action and misdirection plays, which I've been calling for on this site for the past several weeks (see, they did work).

Get ready for a million people asking why Toller didn't come in sooner.

by jaytierney on Nov 25, 2007 6:12 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Yes

The playcalling was varied enough so that for the most part the Cardinals weren't always correctly anticipating things. With the Walsh offense the opponents were always getting faked out of their shoes, and that would be a little too much to hope for on Week One of the Tollner Era.

The running game seemed to open up. The run to the left still had problems, and on Gore's successful TD run one guy came in unblocked but ran himself out of the play. Which is what you want.

Dilfer played a pretty good game, handled the ball well and except for some early bad throws and drops had a pretty good game. DJax actually came through with a couple of receptions and Lelie, while he didn't catch that long pass, caused the d-back to interfere. So, all in all, after two months I can't complain. The Raiders won too.

I'm breaking out the Bushmills tonight. The successful ending to a Thanksgiving weekend.

by Bob In Pacifica on Nov 25, 2007 7:14 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Also...

Arnaz Battle's TD was impressive -- the broadcasters put it on the shoulders of the safety, but it was a pretty nasty juke in the open field that probably would have gotten him past most safeties.

by jaytierney on Nov 26, 2007 10:29 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

the only thing that could make today better

is a New England loss...

Lott's Prayer: Almost as many words as the Lord's Prayer, but the Lord wouldn't recognize any of them.

by Nosetackle Supreme on Nov 25, 2007 7:54 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

re

Oh God i hate New England.
Feeley and them had 'em too!

Merton Hanks, 'nuff said.

by jtoj on Nov 25, 2007 9:40 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Very happy with today's big win

Okay, so we caught a couple of big breaks. But its not like we haven't earned a few breaks this year.

I have to believe that Tollner made a bigger difference than I would have thought. Too bad Nolan didn't bring him in about 5 weeks ago, but I'm glad he finally got around to it.

I think this game was won on the line, both offensively and defensively. Dilfer is hardly mobile, but demonstrated that he can throw strikes if he is given time. And the D-line got some good pressure on Warner.

And it was really nice to see some guys finally earning their pay checks. The Disease had an excellent snag in the endzone, Gore broke out of his 10 week funk (I'm happy for him), the D-backs were pretty solid, and even Tully Banta Cain finally made a big play.

Finally, how about that Patrick Willis? I love this guy. Barring injury (knock on wood), he is going to be a consistent all-pro.

This season has been a Greek tragedy so far, but today's victory was legitimate (much more legit than our other two wins, I would say). We looked like winners. Let's keep it up.

by Call It The Throw on Nov 25, 2007 8:23 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Willis

Lead the team with 17 tackles... that's just sick -- if he keeps this up, not only will he be defensive rookie of the year, he'll make the pro bowl. We can all criticize Nolan's coaching, but his draft picks have been very impressive (if you don't like the Alex Smith pick, remember we got Gore in the 3rd round that same year).

by jaytierney on Nov 26, 2007 10:31 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

The offensive line

How come they have not been playing like this all season long? they looked like last season's offensive line.

by rimrock101 on Nov 25, 2007 9:47 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Woo!

Woo!

by groug on Nov 25, 2007 10:14 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

I think

I think that Baas had a good game.

Another thing. When the rush comes in Dilfer knows how to step up in the pocket. That buys him time. Smith always seems to drop farther back and into the pressure, and ends up throwing on his heels twenty yards behind the line of scrimmage.

As much as everyone (especially me) complained about the uninspired running game in the past, yesterday they stuck with the run game, but mixed things up well. The short passes, draws, what appeared to be traps, all confused and slowed down the rush. After the first couple of disconnects in the passing game they actually showed some competence there, which opened up the running. And they used VD! If you throw to him more than twice a game good things happen!

I'm not about to start chanting "we rollin' with Nolan." To make such a turnaround suggests that the players weren't playing up to their potential, which falls into his lap.

Anyway, the game was good, the Bushmills was good. I'm ready for the next game.

by Bob In Pacifica on Nov 26, 2007 6:42 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Actually

I think everybody on the offensive line had a pretty exceptional game. It's tough for me to talk about Dilfer stepping up in the pocket as opposed to Smith stepping up because the offensive line hasn't played like this all season. This was the first game all year where the line actually pushed rushers around the pocket with any consistency, rather than letting them penetrate the pocket.

In other words, in previous weeks when our qbs would step up in the pocket, it would often be toward a penetrating rusher. In yesterday's game when Dilfer stepped up, since the rushers were boxed out and around the pocket, he ended up stepping in front of them away from the rush and getting those extra few seconds.

Now, I can't say Smith would have stepped up as well as Dilfer, but I do think that a whole heck of a lot of Dilfer's ability to step up was a direct result of excellent line play, and the first decent line play all year.

Same goes for Gore's game.

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

by howtheyscored on Nov 26, 2007 12:08 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Damn you Niners!

I finally put my money where my mouth was and put $5 into a pool at work where I picked the cards to win this weekend... Perfect time to win, guys, you're only like uh... 8 games late?

I would have gladly paid $100 to see the pats go down, though. Smug bastards.

by LA49er on Nov 26, 2007 7:38 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Sweet Jesus!!!

Ahhh...the sweet taste of victory!!!

I have never been so happy to be WRONG!

Hostler the Horrible

by jfainsf49 on Nov 26, 2007 8:49 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Weird stuff

The first MNF game basically came down to a fumble in the endzone, and so did this one...weird stuff.

Hostler the Horrible

by jfainsf49 on Nov 26, 2007 9:01 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Execution.

This game was a result of what happens when the team (especially the offense) finally executes. The line improved. Gore improved. Dilfer improved. The WRs (especially Battle, who's had a bad couple of weeks) improved.

The defensive players tried their best to not only put this team in a position to win, but to try to win it themselves. The first quarter was awesome. While the defense lapsed here and there in the latter stages of each half, they stepped it shortly after. That sack+fumble+safety/TD was a culmination of what the defense was trying to do yesterday: bring home a W for this team.

On a side note, 49ers fans are very quick to praise Tollner for yesterday's offensive showing. From what I'm reading, Tollner didn't have any direct hand in the playcalling, his job yesterday was more of a consultant or someone who critiques the game for Hostler. Naturally, he could have said some things to help change Hostler's mind about what plays he was going to call (i.e. "You shouldn't have called that third down play last time, try this one next time"). When it comes down to it though, the team just executed better.

Battle's leaping TD to finish off that run was awesome was it not? Fan favorite, he still is.

by sfgfan on Nov 26, 2007 10:13 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

I couldn't disagree more...

The play calling was dramatically different this week compared to the past 10 games, so I think it's fair to give Tollner a lot of credit. This was not just about execution, the plays were less predictable, which makes it a heck of a lot easier for the players to execute. Note the early misdirections, which were successful and then forced Arizona to back off and blitz more carefully, in turn opening up the running game. The single biggest difference was allowing Frank Gore to move outside of the pocket on passing plays, so Dilfer always had him to check down to if the pocket collapsed.

by jaytierney on Nov 26, 2007 10:38 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Check downs.

Frank has been a check-down receiver all season. I pointed this out in some comment in the past when someone pointed out the 49ers don't make enough quick reads and short passes. It's not that the 49ers choose not to use Frank in the flat or in some kind of curl-around route up the middle, it's because they haven't been able to recently.

The offensive line played better than they've played all season long (preseason included). This allowed the 49ers to use TEs and RBs in passing plays more. The VD quick sprint out at the goal-line is something the 49ers have tried to run previously. The window of opportunity was never there, but yesterday a VERY small window was open and Trent took it. Similarly, the Battle quick out is something they've run with Jackson and Battle a lot this year as well. Again, the window was VERY small and Trent took it.

The Cards seemed to back off of the blitz not only because Frank was tearing them up, it was because the offensive line was tearing them up. The Cards' blitzing scheme, from what I understand, is one that depends on confusion, not necessarily out-numbering the offensive personnel. I think that the offensive line showed they could stay focused enough and not be confused about whether or not a defensive lineman or a linebacker is going to blitz or drop back in a zone, and that resulted in a much better performance..

Bottom line, I still think it was an execution thing, more than anything. Tollner probably deserves credit, I'm not taking that away from him. I'm just saying he may not have had as big an impact on the game as many are leading themselves (and others) to believe.

by sfgfan on Nov 26, 2007 11:14 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

And there was play action!

Don't know if anybody noticed the play-action! Woo-hoo strategy you can use when the running game is working! Woo-hoo running game you can use when the offensive line is working!

To be honest, for me this game was still won less with the playcalling (which was better, but I'm not sure if it was dramatically better), and much much much much more on the front line. Our five big men were AWESOME yesterday. For the first time all year our QB had enough time on almost every to complete his reads. You'll notice we still didn't see much in the way of short drops, which has been one playcalling change many of us have been calling for. But Dilfer finally had time, so every pass play automatically looked better. Then Gore finally had room (and the guy is unbelievable on his own playing like THAT on a gimp ankle), which opened up play-action and opened up the middle of the field for our receivers.

It's amazing what you can do as an offense with some blocking.

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

by howtheyscored on Nov 26, 2007 12:13 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Michael Lewis...the DB

Battle's leaping TD was freaking awesome, so was Willis' game saving tackle...et al. But you know what else was...that big sack that Michael Lewis got when he came flying, doing his best Superman imepression...

Hostler the Horrible

by jfainsf49 on Nov 26, 2007 11:25 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Lewis

I've always liked him as a player. His coverage skills leave a lot to be desired, but he's a very good balance of that and "in-the-box." If he's in the box, the 49ers can STILL drop him back into coverage (albeit a risky move) OR rush him.

He almost cleared the QB completely (who I think was trying to duck), didn't he?

by sfgfan on Nov 26, 2007 11:35 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Thats right...

He was coming full steam, not sure if Warner even saw him coming. Lewis hit him high in the shoulders(from behind)I think...good thing he is pretty solid tackler...he damn near did a flip...

Hostler the Horrible

by jfainsf49 on Nov 26, 2007 11:57 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Blitzing DBs

The blitzing DB is always exciting when it results in a sack. I still remember last year when Spencer (I think) absolutely leveled Kitna (I think) from his front side and the ball popped out as Kitna and Spencer hit the ground.

by sfgfan on Nov 26, 2007 12:59 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Thank goodness for nfl.com

If you watch this highlight reel from nfl.com, around the 1:25 mark is the play where Spencer absolutely levels Kitna.

by sfgfan on Nov 26, 2007 1:05 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

That's a GREAT hit

Especially so for being 100% completely clean. In fact, it almost looks intentionally clean the way Spencer keeps his head waaaaay out of the way and drives Kitna onto his back instead of his head or shoulder.

Awesome. Love Spencer.

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

by howtheyscored on Nov 26, 2007 1:16 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

DB blitz...

Man that clip is sweet...Spencer bringing the wood...boomshakalaka.

I guess that is all about the situation and timing.

I was critical of the Niners earlier this year for trying a cb blitz on a 3rd and 18, of all people they blitzed Clements, that I don't quite get...why take our best coverage guy out of coverage?

Hostler the Horrible

by jfainsf49 on Nov 26, 2007 2:33 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Well

If there were ever a situation to blitz your best CB (who is probably also your fastest and best tackler), it would be in 3rd and "super" long situations. Any CB can cover deep, at least that's the thought by most coaches (and myself). A good coverage corner's skills are most noticeable when the routes or more complex (slants, ins, outs, curls, comebacks, etc). Post patterns and go's should theoretically be coverable by anyone with decent speed and agility.

by sfgfan on Nov 27, 2007 9:23 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Okay...

but I am just saying that I would rather see them blitz all 4 lbs and keep Clements in coverage. I understand trying to catch guys "off guard." But Christ one could argue that play I mentioned cost us that game.

Hostler the Horrible

by jfainsf49 on Nov 27, 2007 11:10 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs