You may have read an article I wrote earlier this week about how Blaine Gabbert is a terrible quarterback and how it makes no sense that he’s the starter. If you haven’t, I encourage you to read it and then come back here.
Now that you’re back, let’s talk about Colin Kaepernick. Reports suggest he isn’t up to his proper playing weight and that he isn’t 100 percent, but I consider these excuses dubious at best and am going to proceed with my analysis of Gabbert, a very bad quarterback who has already reached his ceiling.
Keep in mind that’s the crux of my whole argument: that Gabbert is and was a known commodity, ceiling and all, by the time he even joined the 49ers. Speaking nothing of Kaepernick, a player who himself has struggled in very shocking ways, Gabbert is just terrible.
This is not a rally cry in support of Kaepernick, even if I think he should be the starter. This isn’t a claim that Kaepernick will definitely lead to greener pastures. The only conclusion I draw in that realm is simple: there is at least the chance of greener pastures with him. That is not the case with Gabbert.
Let’s look at some of his egregious passes on Sunday. I covered four different passes in the aforementioned article, and urge you to go read it and see some bad passes.
Other than a pass that completely missed a wide open Jeremy Kerley in the end zone, this one may have been the worst of the game against Seattle. Gabbert has good protection until he steps right into a defender. Whatever the case, he’s not really paying attention to the defender, and takes the hit to make the throw.
That’s a rarity for Gabbert. The problem is, he has such little awareness, that he tried to throw it to a receiver who was double covered and who had zero chance to catch the ball. The guy is there THE WHOLE PLAY and Gabbert throws the ball anyway. It should have been an interception.
This play is particularly notable because it includes Quinton Patton doing a very, very stupid thing. Patton makes bone-headed plays in every single game, this time losing the football and literally giving the Seahawks a turnover. It was credited as Gabbert interception, as it should have been.
But the real problem with this play is where Patton is when Gabbert throws him the football. The 49ers are ONCE AGAIN facing a third down situation and Gabbert once again throws the pass well short of the first down. Patton was barely 2 yards past the line of scrimmage when Gabber threw the ball ... and he had great protection!
It happens plenty with Gabbert. Way too much.
This one isn’t as egregious as some of the other plays, but it’s still bad. Gabbert locks into his running back from the start of the play. You can’t see it in this image, but he never turns. He never looks away. The receivers running on the left side may as well be sitting down. The other receivers on the right side may as well be taking a nap on the sideline.
Gabbert locks into his guy and throws a pass, and it’s a bad throw. It’s well behind the running back, and leads him right out of bounds. There was no way that ball could have been caught and then turned into a touchdown with the way he threw it. Rather than put the ball in a playmaker’s hands to try and get past the lone defender covering him, the back instead has to turn completely around to salvage a dying play.