Cardinals 23 - 49ers 13: This just in, turnovers hurt

by Fooch on Sep 7, 2008 4:39 PM PDT in News

There are two types of heart-breaking losses. There is the last second stunning end to a game, something Cardinals fans endured last season when Tully Banta-Cain pounced on a Kurt Warner end zone fumble. Then there's the slow Chinese water-torture type of death, as we saw today. The former is like ripping off a band-aid, the latter just eats you up for a good chunk of a game.

This game can be fully explained by two statistics: turnovers and time of possession. The 49ers had 4 fumbles and 1 interception. Arizona finished with 37:05 to the 49ers 22:55 in time of possession and held onto the ball for roughly 3/4 of the 2nd half. It got so bad that before the two under 2 minute drives in the 4th quarter, the 49ers had the ball for ONE DRIVE IN THE SECOND HALF!

One thing to keep in mind (not to poor salt on this) is that the final score actually could have been a lot worse. Twice the Cardinals ran the ball inside the five yard line, only to be moved back 15 yards due to personal fouls. Instead of 14 points on those two drives, they came away with 3 points.

While it's hard to talk about anything good, for these initial recaps I want to at least get the good, the bad and the ugly down so we have a more complete picture.

The Good
Frank Gore - When he was actually on the field he was making plays befitting a Mike Martz running back. He was a great escape valve for JTO and he looked lean and mean bouncing off tacklers. I expect a big year from him no matter how the 49ers do record-wise.

Parys Haralson/Justin Smith - Haralson finished the game with 2.5 sacks and was bringing pressure for the entire first half. Justin Smith had a half a sack but was getting in Warner's face the entire first half. However, the Cardinals adjusted in the second half bringing in more protection and the pass rush immediately died. I know you don't want to give up the big play, but an occasional corner and safety blitz might have kept the Cardinals more honest

Bryant Johnson - He didn't have a huge game, but he got himself open and held on to the ball. Considering how much time he missed in training camp, I think he performed quite well. His chemistry with O'Sullivan should only improve.

Vernon Davis - He made some solid catches, but equally important, he had some really nice blocks and no mental mistakes, a big problem for him the last two seasons.

The Bad
J.T. O'Sullivan - I won't put him in the ugly category because he did make some things happen on offense. However, he had trouble when the pocket started to collapse. He made a few nice dump-offs but his three turnovers killed (even if pass protection caused one of them). He probably showed more bad than good considering the offense only managed 1 touchdown on a Gore run, but he did show some things that have me mildly optimistic.

Offensive line - At times they got a lot of push and opened up big holes for Frank Gore. However, 4 sacks and two quarterback fumbles are not good results. Joe Staley was pushed around for good chunks of the game and clearly is still learning the left tackle position. Hopefully we'll see some steady improvement in the coming weeks.

The Ugly
The Secondary - Even when the 49ers were getting some pass rush early in the second quarter, the secondary could not maintain coverage, particularly on Anquan Boldin who finished with 8 receptions for 82 yards all in the second half. There were several third and long situations where the 49ers simply couldn't make plays. You let a team convert multiple 3rd and long situations and you're definitely going to end up on the wrong side of the score.

Turnovers - Everything that could go wrong on offense in the early part of the game did. Throw in the later Takeo Spikes fumble on the short kick and it was a miserable day for the 49ers. You turn over the ball 5 times, you're probably not going to win the game. You turn it over 5 times and force 0 turnovers yourself and you're definitely NOT going to win the game.

Timeouts/Game Management - The one continuous complaint at this site (aside from QB play) is the time management issue. With 1:01 left in the first half and Arizona deep in their own territory, the 49ers made a stop on 3rd down to set up a 4th and 12 punt. Unfortunately, due to the lack of timeouts, Arizona ran the clock down to 10 seconds and the 49ers could do nothing to end the half. One of those timeouts was blown on a pretty stupid challenge. I'm not saying they would have scored with more time left, but they certainly would have had more of an opportunity.

Next week
Even though it's only week two, the 49ers face a huge showdown up in Seattle next week. Due to injuries and suspensions, the Seahawks could be struggling and the 49ers have to take advantage of that. I really hope the team is able to bounce back from this loss and not let it bog them down next week. It'll be tough to win on the road, but it would be a huge momentum builder and help in any eventual tiebreaks.

Thanks to everybody who took part in the discussion, even as the knife was being twisted in the second half. We had 34 users take part with our highest (besides me) being shlecko at 73 comments. Due to the length of the list, I'm posting it after the jump.

shlecko	73
Vote4Gore	54
Call It The Throw	52
lincypoo i wuv u	43
Bob On The Coast	38
baybruin415	33
49erLou	28
sam23	28
groug	27
TexanNiner	24
Nosetackle Supreme	19
Muy Macho	17
Swager	15
marcello	14
Rishi	10
GSwarrior	9
sfgfan	8
dylanj	7
408	7
ccslive	7
Grant	6
Miner	4
GrandTheftFootball	4
renke81	4
Moggeee	3
Coffee13eans	3
Dforsh	2
enut21	1
ChrisHero	1
Yoyo	1
Bitter Fan	1
CB30	1
DesertFox	1

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Compare to last year...

Just for fun:
Our return game didn’t get great gains, but didn’t cough up turnovers. We got rid of Maurice Hicks.

At the end of the game, JTO and Smith were in essentially the same position. Disappointing play, but the game is close and now the QB has a chance to drive his team down the field.

Smith goes on the drive of his life, scrambling for a fourth down conversion, and Battle caps it off with a one-yard end-around for the score.

JTO fumbles.

by Rishi on Sep 7, 2008 4:57 PM PDT 0 recs

Differences

Smith was down 4 points with 2:58 to go

JTO was down 10 points with 1:57 to go.

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by Fooch on Sep 7, 2008 5:01 PM PDT up 0 recs

The fumble occured when the Niners were down 7, no?

I had to follow the tail end of the game on my mobile unfortunately, so I may be wrong.

by Rishi on Sep 7, 2008 5:19 PM PDT up 0 recs

play-by-play

It was the first play after the Cardinals went up 23-13: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playbyplay?gameId=280907025&period=4

Had it been 7 I could certainly see where you were at with that…Although down 10, if they had gotten to field goal range would Nolan have been smart enough to kick the quick field goal and try the onside kick? That’s the smart play but most coaches forget that.

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by Fooch on Sep 7, 2008 5:27 PM PDT up 0 recs

Occasionally

I dont think thats always the smart play. It depends on where on the field u are at. u would be better off going for the endzone if your closer, than have to get the onside and then drive down the entire distance again.

But i think it depends on ur kicker and how comfortable u are with him. Just my opinion.

by good as gold on Sep 8, 2008 4:48 PM PDT up 0 recs

Nedney

ALWAYS comfortable with Nedney!

But I get your point. I think my problem with some coaches is when they’re down on the opposing 20 trying to drive in for points with 10 seconds left. Doesn’t help to lose by 3 instead of 7 or 10. Well except for end of season tiebreakers.

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by Fooch on Sep 8, 2008 5:13 PM PDT up 0 recs

Good game guys

I like your Defense and JTO looks very promising. Looking forward to the rematch in November.

No injuries to either team that I am aware of.

by AJ BirdWatcher on Sep 7, 2008 5:07 PM PDT 0 recs

I disagree

The defense was crap and JTO played like shit.

But I look forward to the rematch nonetheless.

My Dave Righetti is better than your Dave Righetti.

by howtheyscored on Sep 7, 2008 9:22 PM PDT up 0 recs

Pass rush impressed

Your pass rush impressed me in particular. Our O-line did okay, but Warner never got much time to get into a groove.

I’ll restate that JTO did not do that bad of a job considering. He completed 70% of his attempts and managed to avoid a couple of sacks by finding outlet passes. Overall, not to bad for his first career start. I guess some people are too hard to please.

by AJ BirdWatcher on Sep 8, 2008 5:36 AM PDT up 0 recs

I don’t know. The things that I felt I saw when I was at the game seem to be in conflict with what the TV watchers are saying, and football is one sport in which I think watching it on T gives you much better idea of actual performance. What I saw from the defense isn’t the same as what you say there. It seemed like, despite the sacks, Warner generally had a lot of time. I saw that, despite the 70%, many of JT’s passes were in bad places for his receivers.

I’m happy to be optimistic, but I just didn’t see much in this game to be encouraged about, except for Frank Gore, who looks as awesome as he ever has.

I think the thing that surprised me most was how much I disliked Martz’s playcalling. It felt uninspired, and there were a number of times he called plays that just had no chance of working.

It’s a long season, and we’re one game in, so I’m not making any statements about the future (in fact, I think we have a very good chance to beat the Seahawks!), but I think if I was going to be encouraged by this game, I’d be doing it for the sake of being encouraged, and not because there was anything there for me to latch onto.

My Dave Righetti is better than your Dave Righetti.

by howtheyscored on Sep 8, 2008 12:40 PM PDT up 0 recs

Thanks for the thread

It was a good time even though we didn’t have too many things to cheer for in the second half. Hopefully the Special Teams works out all the problems they showed today. JTO really wasn’t as bad as everybody is making it seem. It was a his first NFL start! C’mon. Alex Smith wouldn’t have done jack in this game. Gore was the man. Takeo Spikes..ehhhh. And you’re right about the end of this game, Fooch. Usually I am screaming at the TV and livid after a loss, but this was just a long, painful defeat.

by baybruin415 on Sep 7, 2008 5:12 PM PDT 0 recs

Agree

It would have been nice to win this game but there are positives. Wisenhunt clearly outcoached us. Nolan’s defenses tend to play a bend not break style, and Wisenhunt was happy to take eight or ten minutes a drive. Having less than twenty-three minutes for time of possession will not win games.

I think O’Sullivan will get more pocket presence as he gets more comfortable there. He threw well most of the time, although he tended to look down his receiver. He had almost 150 yards at halftime. Unfortunately, the Niners hardly had the ball in the second half so no one on the offense had much yardage. Despite the three turnovers I feel more confident in JTO than in anyone we’ve had since Garcia. I think he’ll run the offense just fine. And it’s great to see some balls thrown to VD.

I doubt if the Niners will have another five-turnover disadvantage this year. If that number was reversed the Niners would have won. We really didn’t get to see enough of Martz’ offense, but he certainly didn’t seem shy about running Gore.

Next week will give us a better idea. I didn’t think that Seattle should have been favored to win the division, and the loss against Buffalo hasn’t changed my mind.

Anyway, we’ll see.

by Bob On The Coast on Sep 7, 2008 5:54 PM PDT up 0 recs

I’m not letting it dash my hopes. I think there were alot of positives as well as the negatives, but the offense(when we had the ball) seemed much more productive then last year and if not for the ridiculious amount of turnovers, the score and outcome could have easily been different. I think the guys need to stay away from that big bucket of oil in Vernon Davis’ locker. Other then that, had fun on the thread as well, hope that keeps up through out the season. It’s really helpful to someone like me who never gets to see the games unless its a MNF or SNF and how often do we get those?

Simply by pulling on both ends, Patrick Willis can stretch diamonds back into coal

by 49erLou on Sep 7, 2008 5:23 PM PDT 0 recs

My initial reaction

is that the offense and defense are both improved over last year. The special teams are made up of what’s left after the starters are decided and so that unit tends to take longer to jell on most teams. If the Niners have so many turnovers every game, and if the offense is off the field so much, they can’t win. But I doubt that’s going to be the case.

by Bob On The Coast on Sep 7, 2008 7:41 PM PDT up 0 recs

good overall game

I liked Harrelson and green on 3rd downs. Even though the cards did better in the second half, the overall pressure was there. P-willie had a nice showing, lawson did ok, and lockdown22 was pretty good outside of that TD to fitz. Gore looks explosive and could really run wild. The disease looked amazing. JTO played ok, but we were moving the ball, something we did not do with smith. The o-line was able to create holes for gore. The pass protection was very inconsistant. 4 sacks and 2 FF were bad, but we did not see a lot of pressure, just a few break downs. It’s a working process, but with a struggling rams, an injured seahawks, and a cursed cardinals team, this division could be ours!

According to the comminsioner of the nfl, 104 people retired last year. 7 due to age, and the rest because of Patrick Willis

by montasmob69 on Sep 7, 2008 7:06 PM PDT 0 recs

I don't think the O-line was too bad

2 of the 4 sacks – and both of JTO’s fumbles were his fault, not that of the line. You have to keep in mind that the Mike Martz offense is going to leave the QB back there for some extended periods of time, so a couple lapses are to be expected.

However, the line opened up holes in the running game all day, and they were forming a pretty good pocket in the passing game. A few times JTO got rattled or took too long, but for the most part, the protection was there. There were no backbreaking mistakes, and I don’t recall any significant penalties by the line. Even with Wragge, Baas and Snyder getting shuffled around, and the brief injury of Eric Heitmann, the front 5 fared pretty well. That’s my opinion, anyway.

by shlecko on Sep 7, 2008 7:19 PM PDT 0 recs

Where were all the false starts?

Oh yeah, they’re across the Bay.

by Bob On The Coast on Sep 7, 2008 7:35 PM PDT up 0 recs

both of the sack/fumbles were on the OL

both tackles were beaten, Jennings especially was beaten very badly.

Still, AZ is a defensive team that can kill you when they know what you’re going to have to do (in that situation, pass). They are probably the best team in the division, but the performance by the defense in the second half is very disappointing.

by joe t on Sep 7, 2008 7:54 PM PDT up 0 recs

Cannot remember

I cannot remember a game where one team held the ball almost the entire second half. That means that the Cards’ offense played slowly and methodically and Nolan had no answer for it. E. James consistently got good yardage on first downs. The Cards were forever in second and short. They never had to do anything risky. And they didn’t make errors (aside from two penalties deep in Niner territory).

It was a very strange game. I don’t think this is going to be representative of both teams’ seasons, but the Niners’ inability to stop the other team is a repetition of what has happened with Nolan’s defenses the last couple of years. Did the Niners ever stop the Cards on a three-and-out? It’s not “bend, not break” if the other team eventually scores after holding onto the ball for ten minutes. Last year I was sure that it was mostly the offense’s fault that the defense was on the field so long, but maybe the defensive style of Nolan’s defense has a lot more to do with it.

Martz’s offense is high risk/high reward. You expect more turnovers, but if it’s working you have more scores. I come away from this game worrying more about the defense than the offense.

Anyway, it was a weird game. Fooch is right, it was like torture. Maybe someone will send a DVD of it to Abu Ghraib.

by Bob On The Coast on Sep 7, 2008 8:44 PM PDT up 0 recs

Where did the O go?

I was very impressed with the D. They did very well at holding in the redzone in the first half. I think the down fall of the D was not getting any time off the field. I think they where exausted because the offense couldnt stop turning over the ball. Hover from what I saw there is no reason to lose hope. They showed what they are capable of moving the ball and the the D can do there job. Now we just need consistancy in the game play.

by ccslive on Sep 7, 2008 10:20 PM PDT 0 recs

My problem with the D in the second half was that they were just as bad when they were exhausted in the 4th quarter as they were when they came out perfectly rested to start the third quarter. Even rested, they played poorly against the Arizona adjustments. They were outplayed and out-coached on that side of the ball. The first half was fine defensively, but I don’t think I can excuse any of the poor defensive play in the second half on exhaustion. They were just plain worse than Arizona’s offense/gameplan.

My Dave Righetti is better than your Dave Righetti.

by howtheyscored on Sep 7, 2008 10:49 PM PDT up 0 recs

Re: Second Half – Absolutely, Nolan made zero adjustments. It seemed like Warner was picking us apart, which could also be attributed to the amount of time they were on the field; first game of the year; etc. AZ ran the ball with ease; our tackling was sloppy, like Fooch said they dominated TOP in the second half. I take it on the chin, and move on: We beat these guys first game last year, and look how our season ended up.
We need to beat Seattle; especially after they no show across the country in Buffalo. I see it as very much possible; I trust Martz to make moves this week and so the proper adjustments will be on display when SF is at Quest next weekend. Josh Morgan needs to be incorporated into the offense,
Fooch, great site — I’ll check in a little later this week.

by 4thnd1 on Sep 7, 2008 11:20 PM PDT up 0 recs

sorry i couldn't be there

I was stuck in JFK with no computer and the only game on was DAL-CLE. I followed the game as best I could. In the end, maybe I’m glad I didn’t get to watch.

Still defending Rich Aurilia, and the Niners' classic unis

by wjackalope on Sep 8, 2008 12:50 AM PDT 0 recs

Sad i missed it

I came away from this game disappointed and happy. Look, last year we started 2-0 and finished 5-11, so I have no problem with a opening game loss, as long as we don’t lose 12 games. Az is actually very good, offensively with Whisenhunt they have a coach who took good talent and produced. Az will compete for the division. What made me happy is that JTO didn’t screw things up. I will take a 70% completage rating any day, but those 5 turnovers hurt. If the mistakes can be limited, I am sure the defense will perform better with some time to rest, like any in the second half. Here’s hoping we can do a better job verse Seattle.

by Gailikk on Sep 8, 2008 8:07 AM PDT 0 recs