A column by "he who must not be named."

[yossarian]

I'm not even going to post a link because I don't want any abuse, but Lowell Cohn wrote a column and his point was that the last three years he thinks we had the best talent in the game and the last two final playoff losses for us Harbaugh and Roman panicked and didn't slow down. He wrote that they should have called a timeout before the interception play and come up with a better primary play than the one that derailed them in the super bowl. He thought that Walsh would have done it and come up with a better play. I think he has a point, maybe Harbaugh wanted to use all his timeouts in case they got a play in the middle of the field, but if that's the case why not call a primary play for THE MIDDLE OF THE FIELD!?
Cohn also writes that next year it's going to get harder - Gore will be year older, so will Justin Smith, no one knows if Bowman will be the same player he was before the injury.
I think he has some good points about Harbaugh/Roman offensive play calling at the end of the game -- they should have known by now what Kaep's tendencies were and I think that at a minimum they could have talked him through it and reminded him to see other receivers, even if Crabs was still the primary call.
The "window closing" stuff I don't know --- if Lattimore and Carradine are as good as advertised the two potential biggest holes we might have due to aging would be filled from last years draft. We also have 1 first, 2 seconds, and I think 3 third round picks after we get comped for losing Dashon. I think that's enough ammunition if used wisely to replenish our stocks.

 

[PaythePiper]

Totally agree with the coaches stuff. As much as I like Harbaugh and Co., they annoy the crap out of me sometimes. One thing i've always hated is the lack of killer instinct. Field position and FG's only get you so far. All off-season, just work on redzone and Kaps ability to read Ds

 

[Ray_Dogg]

I think it comes down to being a personal thing between Crabs and Kaep. Kaep will put getting success for Crabs above the betterment of the team. He wants to prove a point and it has cost him twice. I'm sure the Sherman off-season saga just added more fuel to the fire.

 

[BloodType49]

We were not the most talented team this year , that team is in the SB you could argue even last year Seattle was just as talented as us but lacked a bit in the pass rush department, Seattle blew there load on that during the off season and it played off. 49ers did little to address their secondary other then draft a 1st round safety. Lowell Cohn is a fucking hack.

 

[Yadahell]

Listened to Ted Robinson on KNBR regarding the last play and he got the sense that the 49ers felt it may have been easier to take a shot from where they were rather than trying to dink and dunk their way into the endzone. Seattle's redzone defense is quite good- so take a shot when they perhaps aren't expecting it. I didn't love the play call (especially since it was going at Sherman), but can understand the line of thinking. I would have preferred taking the shot with Boldin on the other side however.

 

[zman1527]

Easy to second guess at this time the play call and the timeout management. Here is what I think was the thinking there. Let our best guy, "best pass catcher of all time", have a chance to make a play in the endzone and win the game. Probably easier to get that look and pass from the 20 than the 5 or 10. Looked to me like a quick go route and Kap threw as soon as he was set. You are also thinking that there is at worst a 90-95% chance that the worst thing that happens is an incomplete. The thinking was not so bad, just Sherman made an all-world play and the Hawks got the 1 in 20 (at best) tipped interception.

Overall, I agree with the idea that we need to be more agressive, be hungry for max points at all times. You really are not going to win many games on the road if you enter the 4th tied or behind but I think Harbs is pretty comfortable with that scenario.

 

[MHSL82]

Easy to second guess at this time the play call and the timeout management. Here is what I think was the thinking there. Let our best guy, "best pass catcher of all time", have a chance to make a play in the endzone and win the game. Probably easier to get that look and pass from the 20 than the 5 or 10. Looked to me like a quick go route and Kap threw as soon as he was set. You are also thinking that there is at worst a 90-95% chance that the worst thing that happens is an incomplete. The thinking was not so bad, just Sherman made an all-world play and the Hawks got the 1 in 20 (at best) tipped interception.

Overall, I agree with the idea that we need to be more agressive, be hungry for max points at all times. You really are not going to win many games on the road if you enter the 4th tied or behind but I think Harbs is pretty comfortable with that scenario.

Tim Hasselbeck, for what it's worth, was saying that pass should have been to the back pylon, instead of a foot away. Also there had to be more of an arc or at least higher for Crabtree. That pass is a hard pass to make, so I'm not blaming Kaepernick. That's one reason why you don't call that play if that's so difficult on first down this time left and timeouts. Maybe Seattle went have been expecting that given the situation? Ever, it looked like Seattle was leaving the checkdowns open.

 

[zman1527]

Tim Hasselbeck, for what it's worth, was saying that pass should have been to the back pylon, instead of a foot away. Also there had to be more of an arc or at least higher for Crabtree. That pass is a hard pass to make, so I'm not blaming Kaepernick. That's one reason why you don't call that play if that's so difficult on first down this time left and timeouts. Maybe Seattle went have been expecting that given the situation? Ever, it looked like Seattle was leaving the checkdowns open.

Sure, there are lots of ways to look at it but in my view I can understand the thinking and it was not that bad. I believe that a lot of the severe criticism comes from the fact that there was an int to end the game. An int was a very low probability outcome, shoulda been 2 and 10 at worst. Poop happens. And ya cannot exactly dictate things when there are 30 seconds left and you are down 6 points.

PS: Sherman is a all-world db and an all-world d-bag as well.

 

[Ray_Dogg]

With the game on the line...I'm not testing Sherman.

 

[PaythePiper]

With the game on the line...I'm not testing Sherman.

Amen. Especially when you have timeouts and a couple more plays to run. That kind of play is a last second prayer. Fades and corner end zone shit bugs the crap out of me unless you have Megatron or something.

 

[TobyTyler]

I'm not even going to post a link because I don't want any abuse, but Lowell Cohn wrote a column and his point was that the last three years he thinks we had the best talent in the game and the last two final playoff losses for us Harbaugh and Roman panicked and didn't slow down. He wrote that they should have called a timeout before the interception play and come up with a better primary play than the one that derailed them in the super bowl. He thought that Walsh would have done it and come up with a better play. I think he has a point, maybe Harbaugh wanted to use all his timeouts in case they got a play in the middle of the field, but if that's the case why not call a primary play for THE MIDDLE OF THE FIELD!?
Cohn also writes that next year it's going to get harder - Gore will be year older, so will Justin Smith, no one knows if Bowman will be the same player he was before the injury.
I think he has some good points about Harbaugh/Roman offensive play calling at the end of the game -- they should have known by now what Kaep's tendencies were and I think that at a minimum they could have talked him through it and reminded him to see other receivers, even if Crabs was still the primary call.
The "window closing" stuff I don't know --- if Lattimore and Carradine are as good as advertised the two potential biggest holes we might have due to aging would be filled from last years draft. We also have 1 first, 2 seconds, and I think 3 third round picks after we get comped for losing Dashon. I think that's enough ammunition if used wisely to replenish our stocks.

He is absolutely correct.

 

[Ray_Dogg]

Fitz in his prime...maybe.

 

[TobyTyler]

With the game on the line...I'm not testing Sherman.

Agreed. That is the type of play you might rtry in the second quarter but never just toss up a jump ball with the season on the line. No type of excuse justifies that. Especially against the best Corner in the league.

 

[yossarian]

Listened to Ted Robinson on KNBR regarding the last play and he got the sense that the 49ers felt it may have been easier to take a shot from where they were rather than trying to dink and dunk their way into the endzone. Seattle's redzone defense is quite good- so take a shot when they perhaps aren't expecting it. I didn't love the play call (especially since it was going at Sherman), but can understand the line of thinking. I would have preferred taking the shot with Boldin on the other side however.

Here's why I would disagree with that, we had 30 seconds left and all our timeouts. Let's say they get VD or Patton at the 5 or whatever it is and run 7 seconds off the clock or so, we'd have the ball at the 5 and 20 seconds left and three timeouts and all our downs -- had Kaepernick thrown to the open guy. Let's say they call a timeout before that last play and Harbaugh tells Kaepernick "The primary play is to Crabtree but take the open receiver if you're not sure and get as close as you can." Then we have it at the 5 with 20 seconds left and two timeouts if Kaep follows his advice. In either case, we have enough time to do what we were going to do in the Superbowl before the timeout -- Kaep could look for the pass and run it in, or fake it to Gore and run the other way like he did earlier in the game. It's one thing if don't have any time left or no timeouts left -- but we had both.

 

[TobyTyler]

Listened to Ted Robinson on KNBR regarding the last play and he got the sense that the 49ers felt it may have been easier to take a shot from where they were rather than trying to dink and dunk their way into the endzone. Seattle's redzone defense is quite good- so take a shot when they perhaps aren't expecting it. I didn't love the play call (especially since it was going at Sherman), but can understand the line of thinking. I would have preferred taking the shot with Boldin on the other side however.

That makes sense. Kaepernick is horrible inside the 10 yard line. It takes him way to long to recognize who is open and in the tight spaces down close he panics.