49ers wide receivers and J.T. O'Sullivan
by David Fucillo on Oct 7, 2008 9:33 AM PDT
in San Francisco 49ers News
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PrintI'm posting this in part in response to the Roy Williams on the Block FanPost, but more because of the general offensive issues that seem to be plaguing the team. On Sunday, the 49ers had three touchdown drives, capped by touchdown passes from J.T. O'Sullivan to Frank Gore and twice to Isaac Bruce. However, most of the rest of the game saw balls overthrown, underthrown and dropped by receivers.
It's fitting that Gore and Bruce made the three touchdown catches because they have been our most consistent weapons to date. Isaac Bruce may be slowing with age, but he can still ran great routes and get himself open when need be. Frank Gore continues to be a dual running/receiving threat and I thought his touchdown grab on Sunday was a pretty great catch considering he's a running back and was covered rather well.
The question is the rest of the receiving corp. As pointed out in the game thread, the announcers thought the offense would improve over the course of the season as the quarterback and wide receivers got more and more on the same page. The problem with that is sometimes it appears as though the receivers actually are on the same page, but the cosistency is a problem.
Arnaz Battle had his huge game two Sundays ago. Bryant Johnson has not had a huge game but makes some solid contributions at times. We won't get into Vernon Davis because that's just turning into a clusterf#%k of epic proportions. But looking at Johnson and Battle, what really is the issue? In that Roy Williams diary, sfgfan made a good point when he said "A WR only disappears if the QB doesn’t see them, they’re not in the right place at the right time, or if they don’t create enough separation. I think Johnson and Battle are problem falling victim to the latter two more than the first."
I agree with that because even though JTO is getting run around his interceptions have come when he's had time to stare down some of those guys. If guys aren't in the right place at the right time, I'd imagine that would go towards the color guys argument that the passing game will improve over time. Is that true, or would people argue our receivers are just not getting separation?
I still think our receiving corps is good enough as is. Of course adding Roy Williams wouldn't exactly hurt the offense. Williams spent two years in a Martz offense so I'd imagine he could pick it back up quickly enough. However, I also don't think we want to be giving up multiple draft picks for a guy who's a free agent after this year. Even with a contract extension I rarely think trading multiple draft picks is a good idea (see Stokes, J.J.).
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If guys aren’t in the right place at the right time, I’d imagine that would go towards the color guys argument that the passing game will improve over time. Is that true, or would people argue our receivers are just not getting separation?
I think it’s a little bit of both. I think Johnson is having trouble creating separation, as he’s just completely disappeared most of the time. There has to be a reason why he got overshadowed by Boldin and Fitz, and it isn’t because he wasn’t talented enough.
I think Battle has been somewhat inconsistent. He’ll make nice catches, but I don’t know if he consistently runs his routes correctly. I think Nolan or Martz have called him out on a couple of occasions so far this year. His issues may or may not be fixed over time, but they certainly CAN be.
Similarly, it seems that Davis is in the same boat, except his boat is taking on a lot more water. It’s been noted by the coaching staff that his route running isn’t 100% there and that he still hasn’t earned O’Sullivan’s trust. That could come with time if the two of them continue to work together and neither give up on the other.
Receivers
The timing with the passing game will improve but that hasn’t been a real big problem so far. Route running and drops seem to be the biggest problem. Arnaz Battle dropped a ball on 3rd down that would have been a first down against the pats. Delanie Walker also had a drop on the first series that would have resulted in a big play. Plus JT’s first int was the result of a mistake by Delanie all he had to do was turn around and run through the ball. And we know Vernon Davis has dropped his share also.
One other thing. Why isn’t Martz calling screen passes. It works great when the defens gets a ton of pressure on the QB. A screen pass to davis normally results in 10+ yards. Start running screen to Davis, Gore, and Walker. All 3 can turn it into a huge play. It also can slow a pass rush down a little. I realize you don’t want to call it every series but 3-4 times a game would do. I don’t remember seeing a screen against the Pats. I only remember 1 against the Saints late in the game to Davis.
Martz and screens.
I don’t know about this for sure, but it doesn’t seem like Martz ever really liked screens. Did he run them with St. Louis and Detroit? It may just not be part of his repertoire. Not an excuse, but a possible reason.
As for your comment on the route running, I think route running is a big part of timing, at least in this system. Martz, O’Sullivan, and the WRs say it all the time, the system is more dependent on being somewhere at a certain time than reading body language and such. Run even a SLIGHTLY rounded off route and your timing to that particular position is off. Not nitpicking, just adding to what you mentioned.
I think I recall Faulk getting a lot of screens in St Louis.
That could be wrong though.
Trent Kline: Decentish. Also, my website is called ChatterBalks Dot Com. It's not being updated right now. Hope for more at your own risk.
Hmm...
… now that you mention it, it sounds true.
Maybe he doesn’t have the confidence in the 49ers offensive line to get out there in time to help block? The 49ers do have a fairly big line, as Nolan and McCloughan have opted for less finesse-y linemen the last few years.
Roy Williams
Back in training camp, I was wondering about the Niners trading for Williams, and did a little looking around about what Martz’s relationship with Williams was like. I can’t find the article, but I seem to recall reading that Martz wasn’t totally sold on Williams’ work ethic, and that Martz’s demand for attention to detail was beginning to grate on Williams. Then again, he is almost 30, and the Niners seem to like bringing people in who are about that age (DeShaun Foster, Justin Smith, Bryant Johnson…), so we might see him in the Bay yet (sarcasm).
corroboration
Here’s Maiocco, making the same point:
“The staff at Instant 49ers seriously doubt the 49ers would have interest in paying the price necessary to land a player like Detroit WR Roy Williams, who is reportedly on the trade block. There were a lot of questions in Detroit whether Williams bought into Mike Martz’s offense. We’ve heard Williams did not put in the time required to get a firm grasp of that offense.”
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