Thank you. There needs to be some category, or subcategory for game-time coaching. These categories of Sing put everything on the players, but the players work within play and personnel decisions of the coaching staff. The players of course have way more impact, but if “6. Coaching” was added, I would say another mixed bag: the offense coaching couldn’t respond to game realities (run was being stopped, which meant there were other opportunities to purse, such as tight end passing, that were ignored) until it was almost too late. Then Hill did have to play almost flawlessly, which was hardly fair. In this context, Hill is the big hero of the game. In his scrappy way, he executed a perfect drive.

wow today feels great… 49ers=winners.

I can understand the need to establish a solid running, after all that was the “BIG DEAL” this year. and yes I also understand that this only the first game but DAMN.. When it isn’t working why did we keep doing what we knew wasn’t working??? We need to be able get outside if it isn’t there up the gut…Which leads me to ask… WHY did the holes open up and why didn’t we see Coffee in there on a couple of plays at least. His younger legs and being a new talent may generated some sort of ground game… I hope Jimmy Reye gets his head out of yes shorts and finds some way to open up the offense.

Wasn’t impressed with the playcalling at all, though. Run straight for the first 2 downs, pass on the 3rd.

Starting 1-0 after going into the defending NFC champ’s home feels good no matter what.

We can build on this.

Now, BEAT THE SEAHAWKS!

it seemed that several times there were good sized holes for Gore to run thru, but he instead just ran up the middle instead of breaking outside. I don’t want to be too critical b/c he doesn’t have much more than a split second to make a decision, but maybe he shouldn’t run with his head down so much. that certainly wasn’t the norm, but I did see it.

The team also shouldn’t advertise that it’s going to run the ball the vast majority of the time. Yes, everyone knows that is what they should do based on personnel, but they still shouldn’t telegraph it so much in the media. Anyway, the Cards were ready and stacked the box accordingly. Darnell Dockett is a monster.

The pass rush was incredible. that can’t be said enough. They had a good plan of making Warner move his feet, which isn’t in his comfort zone. It also helped the secondary cover the Cards’ dangerous receivers, which they did a good job of anyway. It’s a lot to ask to cover those guys for too long if Warner has all day to throw. Fortunately, the pass rush did a great job of putting pressure on Warner and everyone on the D-line seemed to be in the mix.

that Hightower had a big day receiving was fine by me considering AZ’s overall weapons.

Playcalling was pretty bad and unimaginative. The team just didn’t seem to make any adjustments in the running game. The one time I recall them trying to get to the outside was the reverse, which seemed to be slow developing and Bruuce doesn’t have the speed he once did, so it went nowhere. Other than that, all of the runs seemed to be up the middle. It wouldn’t kill them to try a sweep or something off tackle once in a while, would it?

Also, I’m guessing that they saw something in the coverage schemes that the Cards were running, but I was surprised at all the deep passes. Throwing deep isn’t Hill’s strength and though he connected on one to Bruce he was off on everything else. It was also surprising b/c the O-line wasn’t doing a great job of pass blocking either.

On that final long scoring drive, all of the completed passes were w/in 20 yards and they were able to move the ball effectively. Regarding ball security, I thought Hill got lucky with a few passes that he threw (particularly deep) into coverage and worry that he won’t be so lucky in the future. He did a pretty solid job on the short passes, though.

Also, Patrick Willis is a monster. His interception was pretty spectacular.

overall, the defense deserves a lot of credit for this win though the offense came up when it had to (particularly on 3rd down – it converted 4 3rd downs on the final scoring drive). 203 total yards isn’t gonna cut it over the long run, but if the team can run the ball more effectively, it should be able to break 300 total yards more regularly, which should lead to more points.

Lastly, Singletary did a good job getting the team ready and running the game from the sidelines.

I think teams that can pass successfully early on in a game 1st and 2nd quarter, typically have alot more success on the ground. When you can establish a pass (even if short dump offs and YAC), it forces the backers to back off and get out of the box. I think we early on, need to go against our philosophy on offense to open up our philosophy on offense. I liked that we were not afraid to go down field….teams don’t expect that from us. Doing the unexpected will definitely be a plus for us. We can’t be so predictable…everytime we had two running backs in and a tight end, the Cards knew it was a run. Playaction pass is only effective once the run is established usually.

So much for the 60% run 40% pass-don’t you think??? The reality is the O Line needs a TON of improvement, especially the right tackle-where they picked on Snyder all day and Chilo got blown up more than a few times by Dockett. Like I said-they shouldv’e addressed this need in the draft.

The pass rush applied a lot more pressure than what I ever expected-but why was that the case?? It might have something to do with Boldin playing hurt and Breaston not playng at all which severely limited Warner. The Niners could blanket Fitz, could blitz and get away with it with the other 2 not playin or playing hurt. The niner secondary wasn’t tested as if all played and were healthy. This is the main reason the defense looked that good. If you don’t think so-we can see in the next meeting-assuming Boldin and Breaston are healthy. Hightower had such a big day since the other 2 weren’t there puttin pressure on the secondary.

The Cardinal were out of synch most of the day and thats for many reasons, but I attribute this win to that, injuries, and stupid Cardinal penalties.

Don’t get me wrong this was a HUGE win and I think thet have a shot to beat the Seahawks next week.

I just think this win was lucky, exposed numerous problems, and makes me feel very uneasy.

Our crappy O-Line helped out you guys a lot, but you still played a good game.

Although we would have won if the Ref did not take away the Fumble return TD, and those 2 penalties after the Punt Return that got the Cards to your 38 yard line.

Still, it was a fun game, and thats what I like to see from this rivalry, hopefully the MNF game we will play later in the season will be another close one like this.

Shouldn’t your “total ball security” topic mention fumbles we didn’t lose? I mean, if you’ve got total ball security, you should never drop ’em.

When we didn’t force a turnover or record a sack. That stands out more than anything else. The one turnover we committed I put on Raye because the drive was already in FG range and we’re up 13-3 with less than 2 min remaining in the half. That was the time to hit AZ in the mouth with runs that bled the clock and assured AZ would not score again in the half.

I’m still quite pleased with the defense and they’re critical because that’s the unit (along with ST) that will carry the team for the first month, until everyone is more comfortable in the offensive system and deep threat Jones returns. Seattle is a different test since their RBs and TE are bigger players in the passing game, plus they’ll run more often than AZ. We’ll see what Manusky pulls up for this week.

Big picture: if you were told that we’d rush for so few yards on the road and not score a ST on defensive TD, how many people would think we’d win? And yet that happened at the defending division and conference champions home. And it was done by beating up their strength: offense.