49ers 23 - Seahawks 10: Mike Singletary's Formula for Success

I think this the biggest difference from last year and now we are playing clean football and not giving the other team a short field to work with because of stupid turnovers… Another “BIG” improvement is that we are finally getting off the field on 3th down this year wich we havent be able to do for a few years now so thats also great to see… Have you heard any thing about Gore ankle he tweeked?? Just wana make sure its minor..

It’s always been that and Gore’s propensity for fumbles that have held him back from the league’s elite in my mind and it was nice to see him bust two long ones in one play.

Granted it was against 8- and 9-men stacked boxes so he had a huge head start on the vast majority of the defense but he did blow by Jordan Babineaux (#27) twice (watch, he passes within a yard of him each time and Babineaux’s got nothing).

F-ing awesome!

No one was going to catch Gore from behind! looked like the same play call on both runs. Not sure who the Seattle defense was guarding. I would think #21 would be someone they would be interested in tackling. But on 2 separate occasions the SeaHags defense watched #21 run right thru the middle of their defense and leave everyone in the dust. Both times there were 8 men in the imaginary box. Teams talk about stopping the other teams running game, but what does a team say after #21, the guy who you are supposed to watch, the guy you watched film of for HOURS gashing defenses. A guy so important to the Niners in so many ways that the SeaHags Defensive Coordinator must have spoke at length about bringing this #21 guy down and instead you let him gash your run defense on runs for 79 and 80 yards for touchdowns? I mean, what do you say during the film study this week? What could the DC say other than “well boys, we missed him”. I’d hate to be in that film room. I think overall our offense performed very will considering the play calling.

 Shaun Hill frightens me. He is trying his best I know, but he seems to be on the edge of chaos whenever he steps back and throws.Sure he was 19 for 26, but he only completed 3 passes to wide receivers not named Bruce. Is this because the SeaHags were double teaming the outside receivers? That can’t be, because the entire Seattle team was camped right behind the center trying (In Vain) to stop #21 from running to paydirt every time he touched the ball. So in man to man coverage, the only passes Hill made to receivers not named Bruce was two passes to Robinson (really considered a running back) and a pass to Battle that amounted to 5 yards! That frightens me. Bruce had 4 catches for 35 yards, which is respectable, but this just highlights the very conservative nature of the play calling by Coach Jimmy Raye.

If you count all the passing plays, there were only 19 passes made for 163 yards. That is roughly 8.6 yards a reception. Very efficient by Hill but not exactly tossing bombs out there. But Hill’s completion percentage and his QB rating were very good. If he would have made one touchdown pass his QB rating would be near 100. But the fact is, the Niners want to run the ball. They want to run the ball early, late, and often. Hill picked up the 3rd downs occasionally when he needed to with his arm, but it was kinda scary when 3rd and long came (please scrap the TASER, It DON’T WORK). Now that didn’t happen too often because the running game was pretty successful. However it would be a lot less predictable if Raye threw the ball earlier in the series, say on 1st or 2nd down occasionally. But run, run, pass was the pattern that we often found our offense running. Now that changed up when Raye thankfully opened up the offense and allowed more passes. But all the passes were safe passes to the running back in the flat or wide receiver screen passes.

 So I guess my question is, can Shaun Hill be trusted to throw the ball down field? Sure there were those 2 beautiful throws to Vernon Davis that opened up the offense a bit, but with the evidence we have, it is becoming apparent that Coach Jimmy Raye does not like throwing the football much. If that is the case, then we need a lot more production from our offensive line. The Offensive line did not have its best game running the ball. Offensive Linemen are supposed to like run blocking more than pass blocking. It is the difference between being aggressive and being passive. But there were certainly some gaps in our run blocking that kept us from gaining even more yards. Take away those 2 great runs by Gore and the offense only produced 96 yards on 27 run attempts for a 3.5 yards per play clip. If we are going to be a Run oriented offense, we need to get closer to 4 yards a run and pick up more 3rd and <3 yard first downs.

Sure running the ball for 3 quarters once again caused the opposing teams defense to tire and by the 4th quarter the Niners took advantage by giving Hill more time to hit those 2 passes to Bruce. Those 2 passes were critical at a critical juncture of the game. All made possible by sticking to the run for the first few quarters, that set up the play action pass for when they needed it. So Jimmy Raye’s offense was just enough yardage to win and reduced turnovers to a minimum. But golly it sure does have me at the edge of the seat because we were one big play from being in a tighter game.

One last thing. Does anyone besides me think we should try Spurlock as a kick returner/punt returner. Rossum just doesn’t look that fast this year, and Spurlock is a spark plug that could have better results. Maybe Rossum is getting slow in his old age, They should let the Kid Spurlock return kickoffs and leave Rossum to return punts. I’d like to see what the Kid can do. We sure could use some field position if the Offense is going to be a run first offense.

I’ve been reading alot of criticism of Hill – here and elsewhere. And while I totally undersatnd the frustration, and can see as well as anyone else the statistical facts, and acknowledge that he’s never going to be a superstar – and that a more skilled QB could take this team to the next level – until that fantasy QB shows up, I’m firmly in Hill’s corner. I actually find myself really liking the guy, and think he’s contributing more than some people are crediting.

Singletary is building a team-first, blue collar, smash mouth football team – divas (crabtree, anyone?) need not apply. This is a team built around hard work, fundamentals, and error free execution of a punishing defesne and a run first offense. So while we all can and should be hoping that somewhere in the not very distant at all future is a QB with great skills who wants to play for us, I for one appreciate the fact that, in the meantime, we have a guy who can check his ego at the door and do exactly what is asked of him by his coaching staff. Keep this in mind – not every marquee quarterback would want to play in Jimmy Raye’s offense. Hill, is a joe lunch bucket blue collar QB who is thrilled to be there. Without fanfare and zero style points, he effectively manages the game plan given to him, a game plan that is more concerned with his converting 3rd and 5s (and look it up… he does that with a fair amount of consistency) than it is with him going deep to a WR… the latter would be great to see, the former is more important to the game plan right now.

So here’s hoping that, if and when appropriate, we can acquire that star QB we all know could help to take the ‘Niners to the next level. I suspect that guy is in our future, next year or the year after (and to all the Davis fans I say, ok, maybe down the road, but who really knows?). But in the meantime, I admire Hill’s quiet leadership and style-challenged effectiveness (and I get a sense his teammates do, too) and while I admit I do hold my breath sometimes when he drops back to throw, I’m still glad he’s in the huddle, every time.

My two cents.

and I know I shouldn’t laugh (but I can because it isn’t a super serious injury), but it is hilarious because you know P Willy was thinking “Don’t bring that weak s**t in my house” lol