49ers 10 - Bears 6: Play-by-play
by smileyman on Nov 16, 2009 11:52 AM PST
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PrintFooch's Note: Thanks again to smileyman for another great look at the play-by-play from the 49ers game. We'll continue moving these to the front page each week.
Thursday's game was an interesting experience. For those of us on NFL Network we were blessed with no audio from the announcing booth for nearly 1 quarter. The field seemed very wet--lots of people slipping and falling on both teams. The camera angles were also very odd, as if NFL Network was trying to make us all dizzy. The game was a close one. 5 interceptions thrown by Cutler, 1 by Smith in a game that was either a great defensive battle or an ugly offensive performance (depending on your point of view I suppose).
By the way, on Tuesday night I had a dream that we pulled out a close win and then went on a streak winning the rest of our games. We'll see what happens--GB is next and we haven't won there since 1996. Their O-line is not good, but we're ranked 29th against the pass and Aaron Rodgers can air it out.
1st Drive
1st play (1st and 10)--2 TE, 1 WR, 1 RB, 1 FB. Walker split left. Davis and Crabtree right. 15 yard pass to Crabtree ruled out of bounds. Sing challenges and call upheld.
2nd play (2nd and 10)--2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB. Walker split left. Davis in down position. Crabtree and Morgan on right side. Quick crossing pattern with Crabtree and Morgan. Complete to Crabtee for 10 yards.
3rd play (1st and 10)--2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB. In shotgun. Walker lined out on right side. Morgan and Crabtree on left. Davis in down position on left. Run for five yards. I think this was a poorly designed play, even though it got us five yards.
Look who Josh Morgan is supposed to make the block on. No way he can do that before the LB comes up to make the stop (which he did). We get somebody on him and maybe that 5 yard run turnes into 7 or 8.
4th play (2nd and 5)--1 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB, 1 FB. Morgan and Crabtree lined up on right side. Morgan comes in motion to left. Davis in down position on left. Completely obvious that it's a run. Gore just powers his way for 3 yards.
5th play (3rd and 3)--2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB. In shotgun. Walker far left, Crabtree inside left. Davis inside on right, Morgan far right. Crossing pattern complete to Crabtree. Offsides on defense. Simms whiffs on his block and practically pushes his man into Smith.
6th play (1st and 10)--2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB. Davis in down position on right side. Walker split out on right side. Crabtree on far left, Morgan on inside left. Complete to Davis on the left side. Here's why I don't like this play. Davis has to hit the guy in front of him, then turn and run a pattern parallel to the O-line. It's a play that's only designed to get 3 or 4 yards, but it takes 3 seconds to complete. You should not take 3 seconds to complete a 5 yard throw. Davis is beast enough that he took a 4 yard completion and made it 6 yards.
7th play (2nd and 4)--2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB. Davis up on right side, Walker up on left side, Morgan up on left side. Run up the middle for 2 or 3 yards. Defense called for offsides
8th play (1st and 10)--2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB. Davis and Walker both in down position on right side. Morgan far right, Crabtree far left. Davis flagged for offsides (he's got a ton of these)
9th play (1st and 15)--2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB. Crabtee left, Walker left. Davis in down position on right side, with Morgan right next to him. Walker goes in motion and lines up behind Davis. Both Crabtree and Morgan are within 5 yards of the line. Couldn't be more obvious that it's a run. Gore off right tackle for 8 yards (because he's a beast). We do run some pass plays with the FB in but our receivers aren't lined up so close to the tackles.
10th play (2nd and 7)--2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB. Morgan far left, Walker inside. Davis lined up just back of the RT. Crabtree far right. Davis goes in motion to center then back out. Incomplete pass to Crabtree (he should've had that one).
11th play (3rd and 7)--1 TE, 3 WR, 1 RB. In shotgun. Davis and Hill on right side. Morgan and Crabtree on left side. Davis goes in motion to center then back. Snyder misses his man and sacks Smith. There were two players open in the middle--Crabtree and Gore. Smith needs to learn to make his reads quicker.
12th play--missed field goal.
2nd Drive
1st play (1st and 10)--1 TE, 2 WR, 1 FB, 1 RB. Davis is down on right side. Morgan on right side. Crabtree on left. Morgan comes in motion to left then lines up right behind left tackle. Run to right side for 4 yards. Line shifts their blocks to the left, Baas pulls to the right to pick up the extra man.
2nd play (2nd and 6)--1 TE, 2 WR, 1 FB, 1 RB. Crabtree right. Norris on right side. Davis in down position on left side. Morgan out. Norris comes in motion to center. I don't like this play either. Gore is 7 yards back of the LOS when the ball is snapped. The game is so fast that the defense can get to the LOS before (or at the same time) that Gore does. This run is stuffed.
3rd play (3rd and 6)--1 TE, 3 WR, 1 RB. In shotgun. Crabtree out left. Then Morgan. Davis in up postion on left side. Hill out right. Davis goes in motion. Pass complete to Jason Hill who makes a great effort to get the 1st down. Really good protection
4th play--punt
3rd Drive
1st play (1st and 10)--2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB. Crabtree far left, Morgan inside. Walker and Davis in down position on right side. Morgan goes in motion to left. Decent protection. Smith holds on to the ball to long and is sacked.
2nd play (2nd and 15)--2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB. Walker and Crabtree left, Davis and Morgan right. Davis called for offsides.
3rd play (2nd and 18)--2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB. In shotgun. Davis in down position on left side. Crabtree far left. Walker comes in motion from left side to right. Quick pass to Morgan for a gain of 11 (good job of Morgan fighting for yards).
4th play (3rd and 7)--2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB. Crabtree far left. Davis in down postion off RT. Walker in down position behind him. Morgan far right. Walker goes in motion to left side. Plenty of time in the pocket. Pass dumped off to Gore for 4 yards.
5th play (1st and 10)--2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB. In shotgun. Davis in down position on right side. Morgan far right. Crabtree far left. Walker inside left. Shovel pass to Gore for 9 yards.
6th play (2nd and 1)--1 TE, 2 WR, 1 FB, 1 RB. Davis in down position on left side. Morgan and Crabtree on left. Morgan goes in motion to center then lines up behind LT. Run up the middle for 1 yard.
7th play (1st and 10)--2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB. Davis on right side, Walker on left. Morgan on right side, Crabtree on right. Snyder misses his man who knocks down Smith's pass intended for Davis.
8th play (2nd and 10)--2 TE, 2 Wr, 1 RB. In shotgun. Davis on left side, Walker on right. Morgan on right. Crabtree on left. Davis goes in motion to left side. Draw for 4 yards.
9th play (3rd and 6)--1 TE, 3 WR, 1 RB. In shotgun. Davis and Morgan left. Hill and Crabtree right. Davis goes in motion and lines up behind RT. Complete to Morgan for 6 yards.
10th play (1st and 10)--1 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB, 1 FB. Davis in down position on right side. Morgan far right. Crabtree far left. Deep ball intercepted. Crabtree stumbled. (The field seemed very wet to me)
4th Drive (1st and 10)--1 TE, 3 WR, 1 RB. Davis down in right position. Crabtree far right. Morgan and Hill left. Run off RT for TD. Some great blocks here. The line blocks to the left, Baas pulls and picks up the extra man. It looks to me like Davis takes on two guys. TD is the result (This play works very well for our running game. Every time we run it we get at least 4 or 5 yards.
5th Drive
1st play (1st and 10)--1 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB, 1 FB. Davis in down position on right side. Morgan and Crabtree left. Off LG for 3 yards.
2nd play (2nd and 7)--1 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB, 1 FB. Davis down on left. Morgan and Crabtree right. Morgan goes in motion to center comes back and lines up behind Davis. Baas gets stomped by Tommie Harris who tackles Gore for a loss of 3 yards.
3rd play (3rd and 10)--1 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB. In shotgun. Davis in down position on right side. Crabtree left. Morgan and Hill right side. Quick out to Crabtree for 5 yards. I don't like this play call. You need 10 yards and you call a play that's only designed to get 5 yards.
4th play--Punt
6th Drive
1st play (1st and 10)--1 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB, 1 FB. Davis in down position on left side. Morgan and Crabtree on right side. Morgan goes in motion to left side. Run up the middle for no gain.
2nd play (2nd and 10)--1 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB, 1 FB. Davis in down position on right side. Crabtree on left, Morgan on right. Quick pass to Gore for a loss of 2 yards.
3rd play (3rd and 12)--1 TE, 2 WR, 2 RB. In shotgun. Crabtree far right. Morgan far left. Davis near left. Decent protection. Right side of pocket collapses as Smith throws and the ball is knocked loose and intercepted. Called back for offsides on defense.
4th play (3rd and 7)--1 TE, 3 WR, 1 RB. In shotgun. Davis in down position on right side. Crabtree far right. Morgan far left. Hill near left. Draw to Gore for 6 yards.
5th play (4th and a foot)--2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB. Davis down on right side. Walker lined up off LT in up position. Crabtree left. Morgan right. QB sneak no gain.
7th Drive
1st play (1st and 10)--1 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB, 1 FB. Davis down on left side. Crabtree far right, Morgan inside right. Pass to Crabtree for 20 yards. I like this call. Everyone is expecting run because Norris is in. We've got 8 men in the box, the guy covering Crabtree is eyeing the center because he's expecting run as well. He starts backing up and moving to his right to get closer to the action and Crabtree blows by him.
2nd play (1st and 10)--Same formation as above. Morgan goes in motion to left. Pass to Morgan across the middle for 4 yards. Bad decision by Smith. Chicago blitzes leaving man-on-man coverage. Crabtee is wide open on the right side, but Smith locks into Morgan from the beginning.
3rd play (2nd and 6)--1 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB, 1 FB. Davis down on left. Morgan left, Crabtree right. Morgan goes in motion to right. Run for -2 yards.
4th play (3rd and 18)--1 TE, 3 WR, 1 RB. In shotgun. Morgan and Hill on left. Davis and Crabtree right. Davis goes in motion to the center and then back. Morgan called for false start.
5th play (3rd and 13)--1 TE, 3 WR, 1 RB. In shotgun. Gore lined out far left. Crabtree inside. Davis on right side, then Morgan and Hill. Davis in motion to center then back out. Screen pass to Davis for 5 yards. (Snyder was called for illegal man downfield on this one but Chicago declined)
8th Drive
1st play (1st and 10)--2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB. Walker down on left, Davis down on right. Morgan split right, Crabtree left. Walker goes in motion right then back to left. Run right side for no gain.
2nd play (2nd and 10)--2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB. Walker down on left, Davis down on right.
Crabtree far left, Morgan near left. Walker goes in motion to right side. Pass to VD for 5 yards.
3rd play (3rd and 5)--1 TE, 3 WR, 1 RB. In shotgun. Crabtree far right. Davis inside right. Morgan and Hill left. Quick pass incomplete to Morgan (who slipped)
9th Drive
1st play (1st and 10)--2 TE, 2 WR, 1RB. Davis down on right. Crabtree inside on right. Walker outside on far right. Morgan left. Crabtree in motion to center then back out. Right side starts breaking down. Pass to Gore out in left flat gain for 5 yards.
2nd play (2nd and 5)--2 TE, 2 WR. Davis down on left side. Walker down next to him. Morgan inside right, Crabtree outside right. Walker goes in motion, then comes back. Incomplete pass (nobody open Smith throws it away).
3rd play (3rd and 5)--1 TE, 3 WR, 1 RB. In shotgun. Crabtree far left. Davis, Morgan, and Hill on right side in "bunch" formation. I like this formation. You've got 3 guys who can either go out in crossing patterns and bump off defenders or you can run. Direct snap to Gore for 25 yards. Rachal makes a beautiful block in the secondary to spring Gore free. Fumble recovered by Morgan.
4th play (1st and goal at the 6)--2 TE, 1 WR, 1 RB, 1 FB. Davis and Walker down on right side, Morgan out left. Walker goes in motion left. Run off LT for 4 yards.
5th play (2st and goal at the 2)--Same formation. Walker stays put. Same call for -2 yards t
his time. I hate this call. You've got everybody shifting their defender left, leaving Gore one-on-one. Davis tries to arm block his guy who puts an early hit on Gore. I think this is a poorly designed play. You've got an un-impeded defender comign through, and your fullback is lined up on the wrong side to block him! Sure Gore has great finishing power, but what use is the FB in that situation!?!
6th play (2nd and goal at the 3)--In shotgun. Morgan and Crabtree right, Hill far left, Davis near left. Davis goes in motion from far right to inside right. Snyder falls down almost immediately putting pressure on Alex). Luckily Rachal has already picked up that defender. Chicago's safety stays in and puts pressure on Smith who has to throw it away. If Snyder doesn't fall he pick up the safety, leaving room for Alex to roll out and either find Morgan open or run it in.
7th play--FG
10th Drive
1st play (1st and 10)--2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB. In shotgun. Crabtree right. Davis right in down position. Walker inside left, Morgan far left. Gore lined up on right side of Alex goes in motion to left side. Run loses 1 yard on the play
2nd play (2nd and 11)--2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB. In shotgun. Davis down on left. Walker lined up right side. Morgan inside left, Crabtree outside left. Gorgeus blocks by Rachal and Heitmann to open a huge hole for Gore. Gain of 23 yards.
3rd play (1st and 10)--2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB. In shotgun. Walker lined up right. Davis on left side in down position. Morgan inside left, Crabtree far left. Gore starts on right side of Alex, goes in motion to left side. Run off LT for 3 yards. This is the same play as before except Sims gets beat forcing Gore to cut left. Huge hole on right side again. If Gore is able to make it it's his 4th TD run of the season of more than 60 yards.
4th play (2nd and 7)--2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB. In shotgun. Walker far left. Davis in down position on right side. Morgan inside right, Crabtree far right. Gore on left side of Davis, goes in motion to right side. Up the middle for 4.
5th play (3rd and 3)--1 TE, 3 WR, 1 RB. In shotgun. Crabtree far left. Morgan inside right, Davis inside right, Hill far right (in bunch formation). Davis in motion to center and back. Snyder pulls. M-Rob off the right side for 4 yards (Gore was out taking a breather).
6th play (1st and 10)--1 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB, 1 FB. Davis down on right side. Jason Hill inside left, Crabtree outside left. Gore off right side for no gain.
7th play (2nd and 10)--Same formation. Snyder misses his man completely. Pass incomplete to Norris (who let it bounce off his hands). Offsides called on Chicago
8th play (2nd and 5)--1 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB, 1 FB. Davis down on right side. Hill far right, Crabtree far left. Hill goes in motion lining up off the LT. Gore to right side for 2 yards.
9th play (3rd and 3)--1 TE, 3 WR, 1 RB. In shotgun. Davis in up position on left side. Morgan next to him. Crabtree far left. Hill on right. Davis goes in motion to right side. Quick pass to M-Rob who slips as he catches it for 4 yards.
10th play (1st and 10)--2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB. Davis down on left side. Crabtree far right. Walker up on left side. Morgan far left. Gore up the middle for no gain.
11th play (2nd and 10)--1 TE, 3 WR, 1 RB. In shotgun. Crabtree far right. Davis, Morgan, Hill on left side in "bunch" formation. Davis goes in motion to center then back. Gore up the middle for 2 yards.
12th play (3rd and 8)--1 TE, 3 WR, 1 RB. In shotgun. Hill far right. Davis, Morgan, Crabtree in "bunch" position on left. Davis in motion to right. Pressure almost immediately. Alex scrambles for 2 yards.
Some thoughts:
1. I know why Walker doesn't get many balls thrown his way. He runs terrible routes. I tried to pay close attention to him and he just doesn't put that much effort into getting open.
2. Our defense really needs to work on the 2 minute drill. Killed us at Minnesota, at Indy, and almost killed us again.
3. I don't like our OLBs. They're not big enough to get pressure on the QB, and they're not quick enough to chase down speed guys on the outside. We get killed with outside runs and screens. (Matt Forte had 120 yards receiving against us. Chris Johnson burned us for 135 yards on the ground (would've been closer to 200 if not for some penalties).
4. We also have problems covering opposing Tight Ends on seam routes in the middle of the field.
5. I'm not sure how I feel about Raye as OC. Our offense is moving along pretty good. We had some really nice drives, and the running game appears to be picking up. I couldn't point to many bone-headed calls, but some of his plays just aren't designed well. Sure we can point to lack of execution, but if you've got a play that's a poor design no amount of execution will ovecome it.
6. Our line has gotten better though Snyder is a horrible RT.
7. Alex Smith still needs to work on his reads. He's still got a tendency to pick a target early. He's not locking in as much, but he missed some wide open receivers on Thursday night's game.
8. Roman was lucky that his lone interception wasn't overturned on PI. He bumped the guy just enough to knock him out of the way. Any harder and it would have been pass interference, not an interception.
9. We've got a really solid core of LB's. Of course we've got Willis, but Wilhelm has been a great find for us, and McKillop is also pretty good.
10. I'd like to see more of both Jason Hill and M-Rob. I hate running FB plays. Norris can't catch and he's not all that great at blocking. I'd rather see M-Rob in there giving us two options at RB.
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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Comments
I thought that was just me. LOL.
I just got NFL Network and was like, hmm….this is interesting. I’m surprised they don’t have announcers on this channel. Then all the sudden they came on.
once again
good work smileyman, thanks a lot for doing this. I thoroughly enjoy these posts.
"Pat is still just scratching the surface." - Coach Singletary on LB Patrick Willis
grammar police!!!
We’ve got a really solid corecorps of LB’s.
A hearty thank you to Rich Aurilia for all the good memories, and to the Niners for finally getting the uni's (mostly) right.
Here is a weak challenge . . .
Corp as group of personnel as in Military corps
Or center and place to build out from as in Earth’s core.
I meant it in the sense that bignerd brings up
as a center to build on.
If I’d said “Our core group of linebackers is really good” it would have made more sense.
oh I got it
grammar police fail
A hearty thank you to Rich Aurilia for all the good memories, and to the Niners for finally getting the uni's (mostly) right.
nice read
just skimmed it so far but I want to go back and read it all in more detail. I need to get DVR so I can start taping the games and watching them back later.
A hearty thank you to Rich Aurilia for all the good memories, and to the Niners for finally getting the uni's (mostly) right.
9-man look 1st drive
on the obvious run pic:
Look at that. 9 guys in the box and single high safety. We have to release the TE’s on this sometime and burn the crap out of defenses for doing this, even on “obvious” run downs. you HAVE to punish these 9 man looks.
We passed out of it later in the game
but it was a FB pass to Norris who has bricks for hands and it didn’t go anywhere.
3rd and 6 to Jason Hill
I thought his “move” could have been better in that situation…I know I’m splitting hairs maybe. That was 3rd down though. Show your heart, sacrifice.
the deep INT
a few things going on here. first, the ball probably should have been inside more and a tad sooner. second, crabtree didn’t make as good of an adjustment on the ball as he could have. he fell down rather than jumping up to make a play on the ball to at least knock it down. Not really anyone’s fault but a play we would expect to be complete more often than not going forward.
Well..
they need to stop trying to chuck deeps balls to Crabby, he is not a speed guy…maybe jason hill or Brandon Jones, i mean isn’t that why they signed him?
by sanfranfanmdk on Nov 16, 2009 2:50 PM PST up reply actions
Good point
Crabtree has great hands but he’s not a guy who will blow by his man.
He does a great job with the run blocking though—loves to get into it with his man.
disagree
You put the ball up to the play maker. That’s what Crabtree is as a #1. The pass is really where it should have been, the receiver has the advantage. Only problem… Crabtree slips
best run blocking
seems to be when the entire line as a whole moves the pile to one side like a bulldozer, rather than man to man just pushing your guy around. Gore doesn’t seem to be finding cutback lanes or openings very well at times. We need to get coffee 5-10 touches a game as a change of pace back.
screens to crabtree
they aren’t designing these well enough. he rarely has room to run after the catch. let the kid make this play in man coverage off the ball. let him make one guy miss and get 10 yards before the safety comes over.
I think they've seent the youtube highlight reel too many times
expecting he can make this into a TD every time in the NFL is laughable.
Alex Smith Blue Print for Pass Plays:
As you drop watch the short routes first. If they’re open and you sense pressure, fire away. If you find yourself having a twilight zone pocket of protection that you can’t explain, look downfield quick and if you don’t immediately see an open deep route, fire back underneath.
what i mean is
stop designing plays to go down the field. we can’t protect for them. give him tons of short routes with some deep options just in case we block someone.
more play actions
I hardly remember any play actions called this season. Don’t know whether its because of the o-line, or play action is too new of a concept for Jimmy Raye, but with a 8 or 9 man front, play-action to Crabtree or VD can be dangerous.
Go 49ers
The bunch formation
I like it too. Especially because you’ve got 8.5 guys in the box. This is screaming “beat me deep”! Single high safety, press coverage…punch somebody in the shoulder and blow by them.
2nd and goal from the 2
That play should have gone to the cutback. everyone, including the defense is moving to LT. Let gore stiff-arm the outside backer and hit the corner pylon.
Davis only gets an arm block on his guy
who hits Gore before he can stiff arm the outside defender. If we have the FB lined up on that side he can take care of Davis’ mistake and/or hit the outside backer.
On that side he was a wasted man with no one to block. Might as well have lined up with 10 men instead of 11
the throw away 3rd and goal from the 3
the bone I have to pick with Alex on this one is that when he threw it away Morgan and Davis were open in the right side of the end zone. He could have closed his eyes and made a throw and one of them would have caught it.
Yup
Needs to swing out more and make sure he’s got no one available before throwing it away. I think that’s a symptom of him deciding what to do with the ball before actually seeing what’s available.
+10
even if he’s not locking on…he’s biased on where he wants to go and doesn’t seem to come off of it easily.
3rd play 10th drive
see, you saw that too on that play. look at the real estate to the right. Only one left is the Safety, that’s it. That’s why I’m calling for Coffee to spell. Maybe another back see’s that lane, fresh set of eyes, you know? nothing against Gore, just that different guys might make different reads on a particular play…it’s hard, heck half the time I wouldn’t blame them for just guessing which way to go. Maybe Coffee guesses right on that one though…who knows.
By that point in the game
Gore was out of gas. Definitely need someone else in there to spell him, either Coffee (not that he’s all that great at cutting to the open lane), or M-Rob.
Coffee
was out due to a concussion, but I get what you are saying.
by sanfranfanmdk on Nov 16, 2009 2:54 PM PST up reply actions
yeah, I know
I mean when he’s healthy. In this game, could have been M.Rob. I just don’t get why we don’t spell Gore more. I know he’s the best weapon we have, or tied with VD…but that doesn’t mean you can’t switch it up here and there.
For fantasy, I hate RBBC. For strategy though…it’s hard to argue.
Question
Just on point No 7, can I ask a question from the experts? How much freedom does a QB have to change the play if and when he sees receivers who are in better positions than the one the OC scripted him to throw to? I know Peyton Manning is given the freedom to actually change the play before the snap if he sees the defense is set a certain way, but can a common-or-garden QB just throw to whoever he thinks is best placed? Do they generally have a designated target per play? Sorry if this is a dumb question, but one of the things I love about this site is I always get great answers when I’m not sure about something.
"This could be another Very Special Team" ... Superbowl winning Niners lineman Dan Audick ...
it's the qb's job to throw to the best guy
sure the play is almost always designed to go to someone. But the underlying part of the job is knowing that if the safety does XYZ that means that THIS guy will likely be open so look his way, etc. QB’s generally also have plays where they “like” a certain guy, a certain route, etc. They look for him first because of past success or chemistry with the player. That said, there are a lot of factors that go into it but in the end, the QB must be the one accountable for where the ball is thrown.
Also depends on the coach too
some coaches don’t give their QB much latitude to change the play. Some give a great deal. Regardless the QB needs to find the open man and throw to him. The only exception I can think of is on timed routes which we don’t run very often.
It also helps if the QB trusts the receiver
To see what he sees and adjust his route accordingly. Smith certainly seems to trust Crabtree. Not sure he (or Hill) have that trust for Morgan.
You gotta bring ass to get ass.
Thanks Tre9er ...
… that’s what I thought, but I wasn’t sure. Appreciate the reply.
"This could be another Very Special Team" ... Superbowl winning Niners lineman Dan Audick ...
no worries
sorry it wasn’t nearly as clear as it should have been (my answer). on the tail end of a spell with the flu…
Great analysis
Enjoyed it very much + Agreed with most of your points in the end.
Stop giving Delanie Walker the ball
he isn’t that good. He can catch fine I guess, but considering how good he is, he gets the ball way too much. Only throw to him on like a 2 TE formation. Don’t have him play in the slot. The screen plays that we run suck. I don’t know whether it is the o-line or whatever, but the screens we do suck. Do screens to Gore if anyone. You have to give the ball to your best player, Gore
Go 49ers
Walker hardly ever gets the ball thrown to him
So I’m not sure what your complaint is here. He’s had 1 rush for 16 yards, and 5 catches for 81. I would like to either see him get used more or put in a 3rd WR.
maybe it was just me
but earlier on in the season it seemed like he was getting thrown too a lot and was in a lot. I’m not sure though. But that is what I thought. Correct if i’m wrong
Go 49ers
he's fast for a TE
he played WR in college. He’s a mismatch problem for defenses. I agree though he should be the occasional target only if he beats his man or as a checkdown. He has some work to do in his routes.
LOVED this analysis.
I have never bothered to open these play by plays before because I just didn’t want to read what someone wrote about the plays, ie Gore left side, 2 yards. I didn’t realize you were doing pictures too. That’s cool.
Anyone else notice Alex Smith looks reversed onn the picture in the 7th drive? He looks like he is a left hander.
not a gripe.
it was a compliment. I havn’t wanted to open these because I thought they would be boring but the pictures are a nice touch, you can really see who is open and the holes, etc…
Again, what I'm trying to say is I underestimated the information in the post
It’s actually a GREAT analysis.
LOL. TOTALLY missed that.
Even when you said it wasn’t a typo, I was like “yes it was, you said GRIPE”. I had to read it a couple times to catch it. My bad. LOL.
regarding the deep ball / pick to Crabtree
True he is not going to get much (or any) separation on those routes(because of his average speed), but I think that with his physical skills he might be expected to get most “50-50” balls thrown into single coverage against most DB’s.
I mean he is a rookie now, but I think down the road that might be the expectation for him. This pass maybe was a bit off (to the outside), but I think generally he has the skills and physicality to fight for those and win (or get a defensive PI call) a lot of the time. (Assuming the safety is out of the picture.) Does that make sense?
yes
he has good ball skills and he really wants the ball. which is why many of us are wondering why we don’t throw fade routes in the redzone to him more often. i know he’s not real tall, but he goes and get’s the ball.
plus he was falling backwards once he realized it was an int
I just totally thought he gave up on the ball instead of going up to get it.
Our outside line backers
What is the bottom line there?
Are they adequate? Do we need an OLB who is a strong edge rusher? Where does OLB fit into draft priorities? Who has been most effective so far:
1) against the run
2) against the pass (coverage and pressure) ?
We've got OLB who each have a bit of what we need
I think Haralson is better at getting pressure, but isn’t as good at pass coverage. Lawson is better at pass coverage, but isn’t so good at pressure.
Lawson—28 tackles (12 assisted). 2.5 sacks, 1 FF.
Haralson—14 tackles (3 assisted). 1 sack
I don’t think either of them is outstanding and if we can upgrade I’d like to do so.
haralson is bulkier, lawson is quicker
Brooks is the natural pass rusher on this team from everything I read. He needs time to develop more though in other areas of his game.
Great job
I like when you point out things like Crabtree was wide open but Smith didn’t see him, or if there’s a good block that may have been hard to notice, etc, or other things we may not have seen the first time watching the game
One correction
Niners haven’t won in GB since 1990. So it’s an even worse drought. We’ve lost six consecutive, including playoffs, spanning Young, Grbac, Garcia and Rattay. But we had won the previous four so it’s time to start a new winning streak and hope your dream comes true.
That said, again, appreciate your break down. I noticed they opened the 2nd half with many more plays having Norris on the field which was not the case in the first half. It telegraphs run play and at best a short pass. It’s also when the offense stopped moving the ball. I have no problem running Gore now that Smith and Crabtree are in the lineup. But it needs to come with either 2WR-2TE or 3WR-1TE formations.
You gotta bring ass to get ass.
i would add
that the only way that formation doesn’t telegraph run is if we prove we can pass for first downs out of it.
Did the 49ers win a cold playoff game in GreenBay
back in the day? What year was that? As I recall Ronnie Lott played a big role as a team leader that year, which maybe ended in superbowl vs Cinc or ??
In Chicago
January 1989, following the ‘88 season. But the Dick Nolan 49ers won an outdoor playoff game in frigid Minnesota way back in the very early 70’s.
You gotta bring ass to get ass.
I think you are a little harsh on some of the formations. Sure, some of them are “obvious” run formations and so the runs are telegraphed, but they also pass out of them. They have to run out of them sometimes.
For example, you critique them for running the ball out of fullback formations, but laud them when they pass out of it. They have to run out of it too for the decoy to be valid.
like this comment:
9th play (1st and 15)—2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB. Crabtee left, Walker left. Davis in down position on right side, with Morgan right next to him. Walker goes in motion and lines up behind Davis. Both Crabtree and Morgan are within 5 yards of the line. Couldn’t be more obvious that it’s a run. Gore off right tackle for 8 yards (because he’s a beast). We do run some pass plays with the FB in but our receivers aren’t lined up so close to the tackles.
Later in the pbp you mention a nice pass out of this formation… (I think… not sure where the FB is here), but the run (even though it’s telegraphed) gets 8 yards! I realize that’s results oriented…
I would love to see the Niners “success” rates broken down by formation type.
FIRE BRIAN SABEAN... UNLESS HE KEEPS DRAFTING WELL. .. AND SIGNS UNDERRATED PLAYERS LIKE AFFELDT OR PHELPS. .. OR ALRIGHT WHO'S PLAYING WITH THE ALIEN MIND-SWITCHING RAY?
-------
PARPG- Indy post-apocalyptic roleplaying game currently in early planning stages.
it's just that
it’s obvious because of how often we run out of it, and how unsuccessful we pass out of it. You have to burn a team once or twice out of each formation to keep them honest. the last thing we burned was a pizza.
Sando on ESPN
Had a breakdown a couple weeks back, that broke down our tendencies and success rate and we weren’t having much success unless we spread them out. FB with RB not so much. Norris isn’t the same blocker as he used to be.
Thats why Detroit
had no quarrel in letting him go. If Detroit doesn’t want him, that should be a first sign indicator of what his value was
Before the half
Did anybody notice this. It was right before the half with 1:48 left we had them pinned 3rd and 8. I was looking for Mike to call time out. He never did then the bears marched down the field and scored a field goal. Just boggled my mind. Why not call the time out and have a chance to march down the field. Assuming if we would have stopped them of course. When the bears picked up the first down it looked as if we didn’t have the right play in defensively
because we play not to lose
rather than to win…
i sometimes think that if we came out of the blocks and had a 1st quarter lead of 14-0 that we would purposely go 3 and out and punt the rest of the game.
I don't think this team is designed to play conservatively to be honest
We seem to do better in all aspects when we play lights out. I’d rather us do that and maybe lose then play conservative and lose
i know
anyone find it interesting that Alex’s best performance this year was basically playing in the 2-minute offense for a whole half against Houston?
while I’m in no way comparing the two skill-wise…look at Manning’s game Sunday night…average, two INT’s…until there was little time left. Then all he did was score twice in about 3 minutes.
Did you watch the game?
It was all over the place. Conservative is an understatement. Contrary to the Bears game, the Titans game showed they can play lights out (for a half until playcalling changed)…and pretty much the rest of the entire season the Niners have called VERY conservative games. What have you been watching? smileyman has a very valid point and shouldn’t have to go pluck footage from wherever to prove it. It’s in his post as well. Did you bother to read it?
Texans game: Not conservative in 2nd half (21 points)
Titans game: Not conservative for the 1st half (17 points)
The opposite halves of each of those games were played very conservative. There are 2 very clear and good examples for you. Of course you will come up with some ridiculous rant about how this or that happened to justify it. But I think that for most reading, they will find it very true taking an honest look back.
All the rest, pretty conservative. It’s bunk. And i guess some people just wanna wear the blinders
Turned out correct
I can’t blame Sing for playing it conservative, as this offense has yet to prove, regardless of QB or playcalling, that they can score a lot of points. So you let the clock run and call that T.O. if you stop Chicago on 3rd down. But calling T.O. after 2nd down allows the Bears to disucss a good play on the sideline and if they convert (which they did) they now have 40 more seconds of clock. Plus, Chicago was not just allowing the clock to run out so you let them go semi-hurry up and save the timeout for after 3rd down.
Sing aside, I’ve often thought that coaches call a T.O. on defense too soon. Yes, you want get the ball back but you help the opponent to disucss a play and get a scoring drive of their own. As much of a boost as it is to score points going into the half, it’s just as bad to give up points. If you have the lead, have an average offense or a poor/inconsistent defense, play it safe. I wouldn’t call that playing to lose but playing to your strengths.
You gotta bring ass to get ass.
How are they ever going to “prove” anything if they don’t get the chances to “prove” anything? There was a ton of time left in the 4th when they decided to start “running the clock out”. We alomost lost as a result of poor coaching. To me that is gutless football and gutless coaching. As a fan, I would rather see them try to do something to win rather than sit on it to barely squeak one out. In the last 4 out of 5 games we have laid goose eggs in 2 or more quarters of the game. I chalk it all up to the lack of guts in the playcalling. The team is NEVER going to be able to “prove” anything when the coaches are too cowardly to go for the fences once in a while. Or when they switch things up from things that are evidently working.
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