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Despite Changes, Why Are the 49ers Losing?

Ho Humm.. Ooops. Why I said oops? Because Mike Nolan  chose a new offensive coordinator, and some new weapons.

Now new Head Coach Singletary is left to salvage what is left of the season, with quarterback O'Sullivan having thrown most of the season away, with his inconsistencies.

Isaac Bruce, one of the top receivers in the game, since his 153 yard explosion of a game, has been generally quiet, simply getting into the end zone at times, but he needs more yards, because that usually means more damage has been done.

Bryant Johnson who? I think we all can recall he had one 78 yard receiving game. Other than that, not much. Was he doing better with the Cardinals as the 4th receiver than he is as the 2nd receiver with the 49ers?

Arnaz Battle, he has been around but...same result this year as the previous years...

O'Sullivan is a culprit of creating turnovers either by fumbling or getting intercepted. If he secures the ball and makes the throws he can make, he will look more like a pro bowl caliber quarterback. Some efficient quarterback with high rating scores are the ones that avoid interceptions even turnover rates. That is why Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz brought with him O'Sullivan into the fold, because he has that potential. O'Sullivan has found himself into a predicament where he is not helping the team win.

Martz has the offense but not the right players for it. O'Sullivan can fit in with the offense but he has areas of weakness that has to be disposed of before Martz realizes he is not the right fit as quarterback for this type of offense. We need a quarterback that can escape the pass rush and one that will not throw too many interceptions, and one that can throw the ball downfield, who secures the ball the way he is supposed to, and who can scramble if he has to. O'Sullivan can be brilliant on one play and utterly stink in the other. He'll take it away from you and in another, give you a gift wrapped in a bow. I kind of wonder if he wears his own socks...because, he stinks up the place and doesn't look like himself, the dazzling self he was during the preseason.

These coaches and players were brought to the team for the sole purpose of winning, which has not been achieved. There are never enough spark-plugs to make it a smooth running engine of a team. We need to close it out with the final nuts and bolts and make sure it is a well-oiled machine which makes everything work. It takes BOTH the coaches and the players, EVEN the support of the team management, to make it work.

When the 49ers were running up scores 30-plus points or more, Mike Nolan's job was safe. When they had their rug pulled up from under, from O'Sullivan's poor showings in the regular NFL season, Nolan got fired immediately before the bye.

Singletary yet again, is not an offensive-minded coach, the departed Nolan wasn't either, so the offense is completely in the hands of Martz. The head coach will only make quarterback switch decisions if he thinks it is necessary as sometimes offensive coordinators are loyal to their quarterbacks despite their performance. The OC can see how the quarterback is progressing but the head coach wants RESULTS. But, Singletary may make better game management decisions than Nolan did.

Return of investment is what everyone wants all along, we sign players to a multi-million dollar contracts because we expect a huge return of investment (ROI). Losing badly by giving away the ball and creating penalties that we can prevent is NOT a ROI. It's a dead giveaway.

Remember NFL stars say "I want my MONEYYYYYYY!!!"

I say, and we say, "We want our MONEY'S WORTH!!!!!!!!"

And we all want our return-of-investment. No shit. We have to start winning.

Or nobody will want to sign with the 49ers, either.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Niners Nation's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Niners Nation's writers or editors.

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I think

they are losing because of the massive talent deficit

FIRE BRIAN SABEAN

by zenbitz on Nov 6, 2008 12:26 PM PST reply actions   0 recs

wrong

there is no talent defecit here. maybe a lack of chemestry and coaching but not talent. willis, gore, justin smith, clements, spikes, lee….. all very talented players. don’t want to hear that they are overpaid. most athletes are. plenty of talent on this team

Fans stuck in the 80's are lame. Respect the past, live in the now.

by maveric_87 on Nov 6, 2008 3:11 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

Talent

There’s plenty of talent at the skill positions, but there is VERY little talent at the support positions, without which, the skill positions fail. What are support positions? The guys in the trenches (offensive linemen and defensive linemen) primarily. There is no way in hell anyone can convince anyone other than a 49ers fan that this offensive line has talent. Similarly, the front on defense, if you take away Willis and maybe Justin Smith, is devoid of any talent, let alone consistent talent.

by sfgfan on Nov 6, 2008 3:15 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

I think it is more coaching than talent

Fans stuck in the 80's are lame. Respect the past, live in the now.

by maveric_87 on Nov 6, 2008 4:11 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

Thick in talent, thin in support

I agree with sfgfan that the talent is little at the support positions, he hit it dead-on square in the eye, at the root of the problem. We are loaded with talent! But the guys in the trenches need to shore up and upgrade their game, or we need to sign players who can hold up the trenches. If we can’t run a boat how can we chart its’ course?

We need talent, better chemistry, and hands that stick to the ball, even legs to get exactly where they are supposed to be. We need to change from quality to the superb all-pro game. Why just settle for quality? We need stardom. We need the entire stadium to have camera’s flashing taking pictures when our star strolls on the field or makes a play. We need the crowd to rise up and say in chorus, “Oohhhhh!!”

We don’t need to hear moans, and groaning over the fate of the lifeless 49ers. We just need to get the job done and the crowd will erupt into applause stating their approval.

And don’t miss the slightly overthrown ball, or watch a ball land on the green, either catch it or get on top of it, or knock it away.

And you guys in the trenches, start cleaning your rifles and polishing your boots, okay? Because the big battle is coming on Monday Night Football!

"We Have a God who delights in impossibilities."

by 16to80endzone on Nov 7, 2008 9:25 AM PST up reply actions   0 recs

Off the top of my head:

QB – pathetic
WRs – mediocre at best, although Bruce has been OK.
OL – can run block but not pass block, and cannot convert in the short power situations.
TE – I guess you can call VD “talent” but football talent is more than just athleticism

DL – decent against the run in terms of per-carry, but lead the league in RB carries against (meaning teams like to run on the Niners). Pass rush is bad, but not terrible.
Secondary is OK. Nothing special. Nate Clements is supposed to be good, but Niners rank 20th vs. #1 Recievers (they are good against TEs, and pretty average against everyone else).

Gore is fine, Willis is fine. Nedney is good. Amp Lee was the best punter in the year last year.

But, as others have said above, it’s in the trenches that

FIRE BRIAN SABEAN

by zenbitz on Nov 7, 2008 3:32 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

Amp Lee

Wasn’t he a 49ers running back a while back?

by sfgfan on Nov 7, 2008 6:09 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

If Spikes

is so talented, why was he cut by the Eagles after Preseason? Maybe because they are a good team?

Is Justin Smith actually good? He’s OK I guess. He averaged ~6 sacks a year in Cincy…

FIRE BRIAN SABEAN

by zenbitz on Nov 7, 2008 3:39 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

JTO

I think you have to assign most of the blame for our record so far to JTO and his turnovers. Our defense is actually pretty decent ranking 15th in the league( according to DVOA). But our offense is just terrible. Most of that is directly related to turnovers. Our rushing attack is actually pretty good. Gore is having a good year averaging 4.6 yards a carry. What was killing us was JTO. He ranks dead last among QBs. He just turns the ball over too much. I think the change to Hill is going to give us a boost because at least he is going to protect the ball. He might not make as many downfield plays as JTO, but he won’t be killing us.

by fredfotch on Nov 7, 2008 1:17 PM PST reply actions   0 recs

Boost?

I don’t know if Hill will give the 49ers a boost, but there’s definitely no hurt in trying him out. I wouldn’t go around thinking that he won’t kill us with something he does, either.

You’re right, though. A lot of what has gone wrong in the first half of the season has been tied to O’Sullivan.

by sfgfan on Nov 7, 2008 2:12 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

this is probably somewhat true

but JTO, when he wasn’t turning the ball over was making plays. It’s just that the net was negative. For Hill to be better, he has to still make plays while turning the ball over less. I don’t think the Niners have a good enough D / run game to just play smash mouth for 4 quarters and hope to win 9-6.

FIRE BRIAN SABEAN

by zenbitz on Nov 7, 2008 3:34 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

Hill

I think I am higher on Hill than most people. I think he could be a decent QB for us over the last half of the season. I look at him as sort of a poor man’s Pennington. He doesn’t r’eally throw down field, but he makes quick decisions and is pretty accurate. At the very least, I think he has to be an improvement over O’Sullivan. One indirect benefit might be that we run the ball more as Martz doesn’t seem to have as much confidence in Hill as he does in JTO.

by fredfotch on Nov 7, 2008 2:23 PM PST reply actions   0 recs

I don’t know about pretty accurate, but he does make quick decisions. And that should be fairly refreshing.

My Dave Righetti is better than your Dave Righetti.

by howtheyscored on Nov 7, 2008 2:39 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

Accuracy.

Matt Maiocco made an interesting observation a few days ago. I think throughout the entire season so far, O’Sullivan has only missed Gore on a pass three times. In the one half Shaun Hill played QB last, he missed Gore a total of 5 times. So yeah, I don’t know about “pretty accurate,” either.

by sfgfan on Nov 7, 2008 2:56 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

Well, Hill has completed 68% of his career passes. Obviously he hasn’t played a lot in his career, but I would say that is pretty good. O’Sullivan has completed 58% of passes in his career. If you look at only passes to Gore, then O’Sullivan is accurate and Hill hasn’t been so far this year, but you have to look at the whole picture. I could just as easily say that Hill was 13/15 on passes that didn’t go to Gore. Plus in the four games Hill played last year he was 15/20 (75% ) on passes to Gore while O’Sullivan is 25/32 (78%) in the first seven games this season going to Gore. So it’s not like Hill has a problem throwing to Gore or anything

by fredfotch on Nov 7, 2008 4:23 PM PST reply actions   0 recs

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