FanPost

Cosell on 49ers/Redskins

Senior Producer of NFL Films Greg Cosell spoke with Kevin Lynch on KNBR to share what he saw from the 49ers victory over the Redskins game this past Monday:

(on Kaepernick & coaches game plan)

"I thought that it was an excellent game by the coaching staff to help Colin Kaepernick with defined reads - know exactly where to go with the football, so he felt confident pulling the trigger when he planted his back foot. And that's how you have to work with Kaepernick to get him back feeling comfortable.

Now that won't always be the case. We've seen over recent weeks against man coverage, receivers weren't open and he didn't feel comfortable throwing the ball. And he's still not real comfortable throwing it against zone where anticipation throws into voids are required, but you want a quarterback to make throws, and he made them the other night, and he clearly felt comfortable doing that on certain plays."

(on route combinations)

"I watch a ton of teams as you know. I saw the Chargers do a great job against the Chiefs man coverage with great man-route concepts and that's something the 49ers have done at times. I think they got back to it this week, and I think they have to keep moving in that direction, because they don't have wide receivers that can consistently win against man if you just line them up outside the numbers and say, 'go win'."

(on balancing Kaep's development with winning games)

"They're trying to win a Super Bowl, so what they're trying to do is get Kaepernick to play at a high level right now. You've got a very good team; you're a contender. At the same time, you're also trying to advance Kaepernick's development as an NFL quarterback, because he's your guy. That's a given - he's your guy. So you walk a very fine line - you've got to win the games. Then people probably shouldn't be surprised if in certain games depending on the nature opponent if there's some difficulties."

(on Redskins defense)

"The Redskins had a specific gameplan for Kaepernick and the 49ers. They are a team that had played very few snaps of dime (6 defensive backs). The played significant snaps of dime. Merriweather would come down as a lurk/spy defender. When they played man-to-man, they had De Angelo Hall on Vernon Davis. They had a specific game plan when they played man coverage. They were obviously concerned about Kaepernick. You want to play a spy when a quarterback had a tendency to leave the pocket. Over the last few weeks, Kaepernick had that tendency. He was not a plant his back foot, be comfortable, go through progressions type quarterback. He was a quarterback that would hit that back foot and if he didn't see it right away, he would move, and that's why they spied him - I'm sure."

(on college quarterbacks vs NFL quarterbacks)

"The college game for the quarterback is an absolutely different game than it is for an NFL quarterback. When you get a quarterback to the NFL, you essentially have to teach him how to play quarterback - as far as route concepts and reading progressions. Cam Newton is now in his third year, and he's still learning. He's better now, but he also has some games where it's clear there's still a learning curve, and I don't know why people are surprised by that. When he was at Auburn, he ran quarterback power with a very limited pass game, so I never understand why people get surprised by these kind of things.

Kaepernick's started 21 games, so it's hard to make these definitive judgments. All you do is talk about what you see on film. By the way, if you indicate if he still has a learning curve and there's some things he has to work on, that doesn't mean you're saying he's a bad player. That's just the normal development process that quarterbacks go through."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Cosell also spoke with Ray Woodson on KNBR this past week:

(on the 49ers defense)

"They dominated up front, and what was really impressive is in passing situations with a four man rush, because they only blitzed 6 of 36 drop-backs by Robert Griffin III, and they were able to generate pressure with their down four. This team is really good at stunting and they do such a good job of that. They're a little more position versatile up front in their nickel d-line than people might think. You'll see Aldon Smith inside. You'll see Brooks inside. You'll see Justin Smith at the end. So they'll do some things with position versatility but they're really good with stunts."

(on RGIII's development)

"When a quarterback makes his bones in the NFL early in his career as a runner, that actually inhibits his development. That's what happened to Michael Vick who never really developed the necessary pocket skills, so RGIII can't fall into that trap. They've got to teach him to be a pocket player first and then let the other part of his game be an enhancement and an ancillary element - not the driving force.

(on Kaepernick's development)

I think Jim Harbaugh knows that. A lot of people ask, "why aren't we doing more read-option?' Because at the end of the day, that won't make him a high-level quarterback on a week-to-week basis.

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.