Look this team has shown signs of life this year and has been horrible the previous 6 with no hope. We need consistency at OC and QB for more than one season to truly see if we are heading the right direction. The Bi-polar fans that call for the coaches head after every loss needs to learn a little patience. I don’t care if you brought in Bill Walsh for this season it would still take time for the players to get to where they need to be and we would probably be in the same place we are now (minus some of the game management stuff possibly). Next year will be a completely different story. Good or bad we can make a educated decision at least.

If there has ever been a team more in need of these things, I haven’t seen it. Trying not to be too biased, look at what the 49ers have:
1. A 25 year old starting QB with 13TDs and 7 INTS. Solid if unspectacular – but certainly showing improvement. Smith would seemingly benefit the most from an offseason with Crabtree, Davis, Morgan, etc.
2. A top 10 running back who, while not perfect, is damn good. Gore runs hard, catches the ball out of the backfield well and pass protects exceptionally well. Yesterday’s fumble was tough to take, but frankly, there were many other reasons for that loss.
3. A tight end and WR with pro bowl skills. Both Davis and Crabtree desperately need time to continue their development and would benefit from continued work with Smith.

These are great building blocks for a very good offense, but they need time to gel. They also need balance, which has been in short supply with the 49ers this year. Has anyone EVER seen a team change it’s entire offensive philosophy so drastically mid season? And while I certainly didn’t enjoy watching Gore plow into 8 man stacked defensive sets time after time, the “RayeGun” is just as perplexing.

For example, yesterday, it sure seemed that the 49ers took control of the game early and with a consistent, balanced attack, would win rather convincingly. The 49ers though seem to have gone from wildly unimaginative to backyard scrimmage triple lateral crazy in the blick of an eye. Punt return reverse, two play action passes from the 2 yard line (question: if you know that you are going to go for it on 4th down, don’t you run it twice there?), 15 yard passes when a 4 yard completion would suffice? Schizophrenic, thy name is Mike Singletary…

When all is said and done this year, I hope that Singletary and Raye sit down and digest what happened this year. I think that they will realize that this offense, with some line improvement, has the tools to be an effective, multi-dimensional one with the ability to attack whatever the defense gives them. Gonna stack the box – here comes Davis, Walker and Crabtree. Playing nickel – we’re gonna run it down your throat. Hopefully, with some balance, the logistical organization and on field execution will improve accordingly.

Seems to me as of late in his career, the offense is always in a bit of a roller coaster. One area improves while another regresses. The offense seems to get worse his second year. The irony is that Singletary didn’t want his OC to use this job for an HC job in the future, but Raye only seems to last for 2 years before getting fired.

The 49ers should learn form past mistakes, and always have a QB in the wings. Smith may get the nod for next season, but he still has issues that need work. Sooner or later you’re gonna have to play from under center, and his footwork there needs improvement. The 49ers really have to figure out what kind of offensive system they want to use, and stick with it. Even if it means they lose games. This offense is Schizo. You don’t know what you’re gonna get.

wow, it makes me laugh just to think how many people feel they have the football “know how” to critisize a hall of fame defensive player turned coach, and 20 plus year experienced OC. Look, Funny thing is, people complained about how Jimmy Ray was so 1 dimentional, and that he needed to turn it up a notch. So poor old Jimmy Ray caves in and decides to open things up a little. As soon as the team chokes another possible victory, people want his head. Point is, this is exactly what u get when u have a team playing a certain style, and then expect them to do some stuff that their just not used to. Look, been a niners fan for years, and I mean years, a shit load of em, and ive seen all the worst that this team can do, 05’ anyone, last night wasnt a matter of what play was called or what play wasnt, u just saw men for the first time trying to respond to situations that their just not acostumed to, by thatn I mean the actuall possibility of winning many games, trust we, we lost by six or less at least 5 times and this was despite having our shit together like some of the teams we played. We are talented, this we know, but I think this season shows us thus far that this is a team that is learning how to win the games that matter, cuz most of the guys on the roster, for the last few years wernt even in near as many games where it came down to the last few min in the past years. These guys will learn, and we will get better, maybe Smith is our guy at QB, if he aint and some 1 else shows he has what it takes to lead this team, I wont feel bad for Smith one bit.

Let us not look ahead to the offseason. Sure, we trail the Cards by three games, but there are four games left in the season and stranger things have happened (see the Denver Broncos last year). Let’s focus on the remaining games.

That said, I am very impressed with the ability of Sing and Raye to adapt the offense to the personnel we have. This is the best reason that both of them should continue on next year.

I heavily criticised the benching of Shaun Hill for Smith, but at this point, Smith deserves a chance to stick around with the same OC for another year. We really need to work on our line, naturally, but we can potentially have a solid core on offense, with Alex Smith, Frank Gore, and Coffee in the backfield, and the emerging Crabtree, Morgan, Hill, and, of course, VD receiving. This team has a chance to be something special in the future.

Most importantly, this team has never rolled over and played dead, which is at least a positive development.

Go Niners!

First of all, to not mix in more runs was bad. I never wanted to see 90% passing…did anyone? You have to give guys a chance to earn short yardage. Especially when you have 1st or 2nd down and goal from short yardage.

You also have to run the ball on 3rd and 3 on the last drive. If you get the first down you can call timeout and try a few long passes. If you don’t, you let the playclock run out (or force Seattle to call time out) and punt with nearly no time left on the clock, or SEA not having that timeout.

Vernon has to make those catches. There really is no excuse, chemistry, whatever. They were bad drops. Right in his hands, no difficulty (for a player of his caliber) involved. Alex Smith DID drive us down to win the game. Anyone who thinks less of A.S. as a result of this game…

We are not a “reverse punt return” team. We have inexperienced players and coaches. We are fighting for our playoff lives (meaning a loss is crushing). We have a hard enough time catching punts cleanly, in the appropriate part of the field. It’s like letting your 2 year old child drive the car when they can’t even crap in the toilet.

Our secondary is bad. It is. It shows flashes of promise…but that’s it. Period. I wont blame the game on them because it never should have been in their hands to begin with…but man…

Frank Gore needs to practice seeing cutback lanes. Unless that’s just something you’re either born with or not…in which case we need another back to split equal time with Gore. As it is I think we need someone to play at least a series each half. Someone shifty and ultra-quick who can potentially break one off any time. In short, we need our own Chris Johnson.

Alex Smith deserves to finish the season and barring a complete collapse, start next year. We should not draft a QB unless it’s to fill Shaun Hill’s spot…which I think might be a bad idea considering we’d have backups with 0 and 1 year of bench time backing up Smith. All Alex has done is get better every game. He still makes some throws that make you scratch your head, but it’s lessening, showing hope for the future that there will be almost none of those going forward.

The Offensive line has played better…which seems to reinforce the “cohesion” or “gel” theories. This is encouraging for next year as we hopefully acquire either Free Agent lineman or some in the draft…and give them a full camp and pre-season to play together. The funny thing though is that they pass block seemingly better than they run-block lately…wait…maybe that’s not too ironic considering how much we pass in games…I’m sure they practice that many passing plays too meaning they aren’t getting much practice with run blocking, eh?

The penalties were horrible. That said, we were still in a position to win the game or go to overtime and so while they may have set a tone…we overcame them and blew the game on our own. Still, it’s interesting to imagine what would have happened if we got that first TD to Delanie Walker?!?

I could go on but I wont…

Niners had Seven 3-and-outs yesterday:

4 pass, pass, pass
2 run, pass, pass
1 run, run, run

so in 21 three-and-out plays, there were 5 runs and 16 passes.

What defensive alignment were the Hawks in most of the day? Did they play mostly Nickel and Dime? Or were they in more base?

partially known:

http://blog.pressdemocrat.com/49ers/2009/12/looking-ahead-to-49ers-2010-schedule.html

the time is fast approaching for us to start peaking ahead to the offseason and beyond

I saw what you did there. You said “peaking ahead”—as in ‘rising to the fore’—instead of “peeking ahead”—as in ‘looking ahead’.
I wish I shared this optimism…

Couldn’t just do the poll with their real names?
Obviously the poll is designed to make you vote for nate “the great”.

I’d like to vote for Alex, but I don’t see him as a “Looser”…or a Loser, as its normally spelled. So I abstain. Unless you’re trying to say that Alex is getting looser (more loose), as you spelled it, in which case I agree, he has loosened up.

Don’t mean to play grammar police, I just don’t like the way negative terms are attached to everyone not named Nate Davis.

Nate needs to sit one more year. If they play it right and give him time to develop he could be the guy in a couple years.

But right now Alex is showing that wow, If you actually put some talent around him, he can play. He has weapons now. Yes, he has had a different O-coordinator every year, and that has contributed, but he also has never had so many options to play with on offense. He has earned the job next year and possibly going forward.

Too many needs elsewhere to Draft a QB this year (and I have my doubts about the higher-ranked QBs in this draft anyway). Alex plays, maybe earns the job long-term, otherwise we go to Davis in 2011.

Don’t attack me for suggesting this, but it is just an option. We can get a 1st and 3rd round pick for Gore, he is still only 26 right? Teams would be willing to give that up for an elite RB with 5-6 good years remaining. Am i wrong?

Then we could sign Jerious Norwood and have him split time with Coffee. I don’t want to see Gore wasted in this type of offense either, it’s not fair to him or to this offense. Norwood is good on the receiving end and can be utilized as a change of pace back. With Crabtree, Morgan, Davis, Coffee and Norwood the 49ers would have the makings of an explosive offense especially with Alex Smith coming into his own.

Plus we would have three 1st round picks to fill the major holes that we have in the secondary and/or offensive line. Just a theory

you obviously dont know anything about football in depth. you think its that easy to just fix the problem. you’re not looking at the BIG picture. Protection, Audibles, Vision, i can go on for days. The problem is that some fans ar ejust ignorant and its sad that some of those fans are 49er bans. Stop bashing A smith and Raye. you obviosuly dont know how to run an offense. i bet if i played you in madden i would kill you because you would probably not know what plays to call and what mismatches you have. Stop hatting on our 49ers and start rooting for the raiders!

We have two players in Michael Crabtree and Vernon Davis who are more then capable of gaining 1,000+ yards receiving in 2010. I could also see Alex Smith throwing for nearly 4,000 yards and 30 TD in this offense, that is not beyond the realm of possibility given how he has played recently and the type of offense we are running. You throw between 35-40 times a game on average and your assured to pass for a lot of yards even by default. This offense has the makings of being among the leagues elite

Did the Seahawks play mostly base defense yesterday? That’s the only reason I can see the 49ers passing so much and abandoning the run in a close game.

Sing even said in his PC today that if they saw Nickel they wanted to “run on every play”. So Unless SEA played base defense all day…someone got some ’splainin to do…

Seriously, 50/50 is probably unattainable in this offense…but it was like what…90% passing plays yesterday? That’s ludicrous.

everyone stop complaining that we passed to much. if those balls are caught we would all be talking about a W here. so shush people!!!

Consistently good kickoff and punt returner would help the offense get good field position, which should moderate the Raye offense for the better.

Offensive line run game improvement.

Smith should continue to start until proven otherwise, but I think the offensive philosophy should include as much “I” and/or Pro set formation as it does the Gun. Multidimensional good. Predictable very, very bad.

This 49ers team is the best since our last trip to the playoffs, despite what happens to finish the season. yesterday’s game and next weeks game will prove there is actually a reason for optimism!

hey guys I’m new to the site, it’s a legit website. yesterday’s loss hurt so bad because we had so many chances to win the game. i’m not going to a lie im an Alex smith fan and i think yesterday he showed hes got the arm strength to make all the throws and he has improved his accuracy dramatically. he is our QB of the future and i believe he will lead us to the playoffs next year. people hate on this guy so much yet he’s been through so much, he is a fearless QB, in 05-07 there was always a nervous look in his eye, but i now see a confident QB, confident in his skills, confident in his team. when gore fumbled who thought they were gonna score? cause I did but guess who was there Alex smith who made the tackle and tried to rake the ball free. he is fearless and our team is real close to being real good. we are just too inconsistent right now but things will get better, a lot better.

shouldn’t we really call it the “Danny-Gun” offense? just saying, being that i was calling for it long before JR actually implemented it.

it’s a total misconception that balance = 50% run/50% pass. rather, balance is having the ability to either run or pass if you want to on a given play. this might be surprising coming from me, but it’s more important to be able to run or pass if you want to on a given play than to have the stats say you’re 50/50 run vs. pass. with that said, i think that, as it relates to the 49ers, their “imbalance” problems are not about them running too much earlier in the season and passing too much now. rather, it’s that, earlier in the season, they couldn’t run when they wanted to run, and couldn’t pass when they wanted to pass, even though their run/pass frequency was much close to 50/50. the former was due to an inept OL having to block 8 and 9 men in the box, whereas the latter was due to having a starting QB who couldn’t complete a pass farther than 8 or 9 yards downfield.

now, i’d say that, as long as their in the shotgun, they’re more balanced than they were because it sure seems like they can run the ball when they want to and pass the ball when they want to. again, as i’ve said a million times, this “true” balance comes from being in the shotgun because (a) alex smith passes better out of the shotgun, (b) the OL pass-blocks better when smith is in shotgun, and © the OL run-blocks better when smith is in shotgun; with (b) and © being the result of fewer defenders in 100% run-stopping mode or 100% short-pass-defending mode.

so, my point is that, with as bad of an OL as they have right now, the shotgun gives the 49ers more “true” balance even though they may not have “statistical” balance. if they were to improve the OL this offseason, to the point where they can both run- and pass-block effectively when smith is under center, then using less shotgun would be fine by me. but as long as the OL is this bad, shotgun is the only way to have any semblance of “true” balance. again, it’s less important to have a 50/50 run-pass ratio than it does to have the ability to run or pass on a given play with equal expectations of success.

just as an anecdote, look at the differences between 7-5 NE and 12-0 IND. both teams are unbelievably shotgun- and pass-heavy. neither comes close to a “statistical” balance of run and pass. however, the difference between the 2 teams is that NE can’t run when they want to, whereas IND can run when they want to. yesterday, IND scored on a goal-to-go running play. NE failed on a 4th and goal running play. few, if any teams, respect NE’s running game, whereas plenty of teams respect IND’s running game. both teams have a “statistical” run/pass imbalance, but only NE also has a “true” imbalance because they can’t run the ball even if they want to. that’s the key.