A few thoughts on the game

[bvanthielriceyoung]

Tough game and loss, I had to wait a little bit to write anything just because I was so pissed by our performance. Here's just a few observations from the game I took away. I only watched the game once, live, and with a large group of people so some of my observations may be off.

~RJF was not even close to replacing Justin Smith. He wasn't hardly even serviceable. The seahawks were running right at him and completely pushing him out of a play. If youre playing a 3-4 defense and your end cant hold his position, that is a huge weakness. I think one of our biggest needs going into the draft is to get an end for us. Justin Smith is getting up their in age and having a rotation would be huge. I havent really looked at who will be all available, but I wouldnt have any problem spending a 1st rounder on one.

~Bowman and Willis had a pretty good game. Both of them made some nice plays. A bigger issue was our line getting manhandled and blockers were getting to Bowman and Willis and setting up big runs.

~Brooks had one of his worst games he played this year. I was always complementary of Brooks because he has been pretty consistent and always seems to make a play or two but last night he was out of position and simply out played. He got flat out owned on a couple of plays. Tough to see from a player that is highly payed on our defense.

~Kaepernick definitely had his worst game as well. He looked rattled, his passes were wobbly, he was inaccurate, and he was indecisive. It's an extremely tough environment to play in but I think his inexperience really hurt him here. I think the biggest disappointment was that he didn't try to rely on his athletic ability and scrambling ability to get him out of the funk and tough environment. I thought, being a young player, he would go back to "what he knows" and get something positive for us. I like that he keeps his eyes down the field and always looking for a pass, but I thought their were numerous situations where he could've just scrambled for a few yards. I'm not sure why he didn't want to run and just take what was given.

~Another issue with Kaepernick that I have seen others bring up, is him audibling at the line with only like 5 seconds left on the play clock. I dont know what he is thinking because obviously their will not be enough time to change the play. He's gotta do it sooner or not at all. It was frustrating to be burning time outs left and right and getting delay of games.

~The seahawks played a damn solid game. They had almost everything go their way. They had a couple of passes that should have been drops that they ended up with. One pass bounced off the damn receivers (I think it was Baldwin??) face mask and he was able to bring in the catch. Another doesn't hit the receiver in the hands but the for arm and bounces into his chest. And then they had some really nice sideline catches where I thought their was no way in hell they got their feet in. Props to their receivers playing a great game but I just dont think that is the norm for them.

~I think our oline pass protection overall wasn't too bad. Staley I think had a nice game and overall the protection was pretty good. Our issue I guess was no one getting open.

~It's too bad again that Jenkins wasn't active for the game. I'd really like to see a some passes attempted to him to at least give him an opportunity. When we lost Davis and Manningham, we just didnt have hardly any weapons left for us to do much on offense.

~Lamichael James played pretty good. He had a couple decent returns and seems to be decent at this. He also had a nice catch or too. I think his running to date has just been ok. He doesnt show a lot of strength or ability to break tackles but does have some nice moves and quickness. Hunter is clearly the superior player and I miss him in our offense a lot more then I thought I was going to.

~The 3rd down conversions by the Seahawks were extremely frustrating. Our defense was playing ok but could not get their asses off the field. I think the seahawks ended up like 11 for 12 on 3rd downs which is crazy. I dont know if they were a little fatigued from last weeks game or what but good defenses can not allow this happen to them.

~Overall, we missed a huge opportunity for a bye week in the playoffs and there are not many positives to take away from the game. We needed it rest up our team, which is getting banged up lately, and for the fact of having home field advantage. We may very well be in a position now where if we win our 1st playoff game, we would have to travel to Green Bay to play them at Lambeau and who are on fire lately. Extremely tough situation and makes the odds of getting to the Superbowl that much tougher.

 

[MHSL82]

I think as long as he is gaining experience, is the better QB, and since he only lost a game Alex could/would have lost, this loss didn't cost Kaep anything. He likely learned a bit and got more used to loud stadiums, learned from his audibles - both in not to call them too late but also recognizing the opportunities early. If we had lost the Pats game (a game where Smith would likely have lost) and lost the Arizona game (a game we should win), I would say Kaep is the better QB but inexperience cost us a playoff spot (if it turned out that way) but I would not say it cost us the Superbowl.

 

[Ray_Dogg]

I don't see why he will learn from this game. He did all the same things the previous week and repeated them again this week. Audibling late, eyes locked downfield, not throwing the ball away, throwing late short throws getting guys blasted. The coaches need to be ramming this shit down his throat.

 

[iHATEdodgers]

I don't see why he will learn from this game. He did all the same things the previous week and repeated them again this week. Audibling late, eyes locked downfield, not throwing the ball away, throwing late short throws getting guys blasted. The coaches need to be ramming this shit down his throat.

If you mean you don't think he'll learn by next week or the playoffs then I agree with you - which is one of the reasons I thought it was a bad idea to switch to begin with. But I'd imagine he'll get it together by sometime next season, too bad it might cost us in the playoffs this year.

If they can pull out a win next week at least we won't have to face Seattle on the road again in the playoffs.

 

[iHATEdodgers]

I think as long as he is gaining experience, is the better QB, and since he only lost a game Alex could/would have lost, this loss didn't cost Kaep anything. He likely learned a bit and got more used to loud stadiums, learned from his audibles - both in not to call them too late but also recognizing the opportunities early. If we had lost the Pats game (a game where Smith would likely have lost) and lost the Arizona game (a game we should win), I would say Kaep is the better QB but inexperience cost us a playoff spot (if it turned out that way) but I would not say it cost us the Superbowl.

I wouldn't be so sure about the outcome yesterday. Smith has won up there before and we definitely wouldn't have had as many if any play calling snafus as yesterday. I doubt we go 3 and out on the first drive either.

However Seattle is on fire. So it may have ended just as poorly or at least in a loss regardless.

However I'm not so much concerned with yesterday as I am with what I view as our diminishing chances to go all the way this season. I liked our chances with the ball control offense and stellar D better than the mercurial offense and tired D. That's not all on Kaep - play calling too - but definitely Kaep is a big reason for this change in the Niners formula.

 

[h0ckeysk83r]

We gotta win against AZ! I would hate for the hawks to have a higher seed and possibly meet them in seattle in the playoffs. That place was rocking.

 

[BINGO]

~RJF was not even close to replacing Justin Smith. He wasn't hardly even serviceable. The seahawks were running right at him and completely pushing him out of a play. If youre playing a 3-4 defense and your end cant hold his position, that is a huge weakness. I think one of our biggest needs going into the draft is to get an end for us. Justin Smith is getting up their in age and having a rotation would be huge. I havent really looked at who will be all available, but I wouldnt have any problem spending a 1st rounder on one

His name is Ezekiel Ansah. I would be extremely happy with him. He wouldn't start ahead of RayMac and Justin year one, but he would certainly compete with them for that job in his 2nd year. By then his body would be equipped to handle the stress of playing the 5 technique for 60 minutes. Another player that would make happy, but not as happy, is Sheldon Richardon. If we were to draft either of those two cats, we would be okay for that position for years to come.

 

[MHSL82]

I wouldn't be so sure about the outcome yesterday. Smith has won up there before and we definitely wouldn't have had as many if any play calling snafus as yesterday. I doubt we go 3 and out on the first drive either.

However Seattle is on fire. So it may have ended just as poorly or at least in a loss regardless.

However I'm not so much concerned with yesterday as I am with what I view as our diminishing chances to go all the way this season. I liked our chances with the ball control offense and stellar D better than the mercurial offense and tired D. That's not all on Kaep - play calling too - but definitely Kaep is a big reason for this change in the Niners formula.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think it would be 42-13 (I didn't think it would be that way with Kaep either), but before this season started Seattle was a maybe and then they started playing well and then it rained. That should have helped us, but we didn't run the ball. I know their run defense is in the top half, but in the rain, maybe that could have helped (though the times we tried that it didn't work). If Kaep had Alex's experience, it might not have been 35-25 in time of possession (though he was perfectly capable of long drives, see NO game). We might have had more first downs (conservative checkdowns may have lead to short distances), and maybe the running team gets going (Smith did audible into running plays quite often, maybe from experience). But it could work out the same way as it did with Kaep. So, I'm just going to assume a loss was likely with Smith.

I don't like hindsight, because now that we lost with Kaep, in our minds if we were to go back and the only choice was to go with Smith (50/50, 40/60, 1/99 whatever) or take the loss with Kaep (0/100 now that the game's over), we'd go back for this game. But if we played this game again with Kaep, maybe we'd win. If we went back to Smith, maybe we'd have the same loss.

 

[MHSL82]

I wouldn't be so sure about the outcome yesterday. Smith has won up there before and we definitely wouldn't have had as many if any play calling snafus as yesterday. I doubt we go 3 and out on the first drive either.

However Seattle is on fire. So it may have ended just as poorly or at least in a loss regardless.

However I'm not so much concerned with yesterday as I am with what I view as our diminishing chances to go all the way this season. I liked our chances with the ball control offense and stellar D better than the mercurial offense and tired D. That's not all on Kaep - play calling too - but definitely Kaep is a big reason for this change in the Niners formula.

About your comment on our style of play versus the checkdowns and slow, methodical drives (ball control offense) - we should only practice the way we want to play with Kaep if we're going with Kaep (mercurial offense, which is not the way the coaches view it to be). If that's slow, methodical drives, so be it. If not, maybe we should adjust how we want to run the offense with Kaep, if the coaches feel it isn't working (not change the QB). However, it won't help develop their vision of the offense with Kaep if we take the same formula as we did with Smith. If our struggles are due to our training wheels, take them off or adjust some other way. We're developing him to add to what Smith did, not to reproduce Smith.

It's easy to say, do what Smith did, but add a big play or two. But then when we try the big play or two and it doesn't work out, then we say, we should have done what we did with Smith. When thinking about what would be with a different QB, we can't substitute bad plays from one QB and insert good plays with another. Otherwise, we'd do it. We have to take the whole game of one QB or the other. Harbaugh thinks Kaep's complete package is better than Smith's, and it will get better in time. I'm sure he wishes that we could have made the switch earlier and keep the Green Bay win that we got with our defense. Redoing that game with Kaep versus keeping the win with Smith is a no-brainer - it's like taking points off the board, sometimes.

It's the same playbook, but our playcalling choices in the regular season, now that we've clinched, should be working out our gameplan with Kaep. Some might say that it's the same gameplan, but I saw Kaep attempting a lot more deep throws and they weren't the risky ones Smith would avoid. So I do think we call deeper pass plays now that Kaep is willing to take shots. But there were plenty of deep options Smith didn't take.

 

[yossarian]

Kaep didn't have a great game and missed some throws, etc., but I still would more fault the playcalling and ask why we just didn't run Gore up the gut, even down 14-0 a long drive would have given our defense a rest and might have changed things. The audibiling with 5 seconds left has to stop, but I think that will improve and 5 games is not enough time because the defenses are adjusting to Kaep and now he has to learn how to adjust back. On the whole though, Carlos had a terrible game and the defense was just putrid, 24 yard runs, long pass plays left, right and center. Terrible.

 

[MHSL82]

Kaep didn't have a great game and missed some throws, etc., but I still would more fault the playcalling and ask why we just didn't run Gore up the gut, even down 14-0 a long drive would have given our defense a rest and might have changed things. The audibiling with 5 seconds left has to stop, but I think that will improve and 5 games is not enough time because the defenses are adjusting to Kaep and now he has to learn how to adjust back. On the whole though, Carlos had a terrible game and the defense was just putrid, 24 yard runs, long pass plays left, right and center. Terrible.

Maybe with more rest, Rogers catches the INT, so I see your point. I'm sure the Niners wanted and tried to get a long drive - they just believed that passing would do it. I put most blame on the coaching - they can still maximize Kaep's strengths without having to pass it so many times. The first three and out was ok because we were taking shots, but a few others was like we were just stopping the clock.

 

[spacedoodoopistol]

Rogers' play is pretty disturbing. Seems to be beaten in a lot of different ways.....his coverage on the first deep bomb of the game was hard to understand, he was there in time but seemed surprised that the ball arrived - he never even turned to look.

I've seen people say he shut down Welker, I don't know how much he was on him - its always easier to see when a CB is playing bad than playing good - so maybe its not a straight downward trend, or maybe its just trouble with certain WRs (though his problem with small shifty guys has been pretty consistent).

 

[iHATEdodgers]

About your comment on our style of play versus the checkdowns and slow, methodical drives (ball control offense) - we should only practice the way we want to play with Kaep if we're going with Kaep (mercurial offense, which is not the way the coaches view it to be). If that's slow, methodical drives, so be it. If not, maybe we should adjust how we want to run the offense with Kaep, if the coaches feel it isn't working (not change the QB). However, it won't help develop their vision of the offense with Kaep if we take the same formula as we did with Smith. If our struggles are due to our training wheels, take them off or adjust some other way. We're developing him to add to what Smith did, not to reproduce Smith.

It's easy to say, do what Smith did, but add a big play or two. But then when we try the big play or two and it doesn't work out, then we say, we should have done what we did with Smith. When thinking about what would be with a different QB, we can't substitute bad plays from one QB and insert good plays with another. Otherwise, we'd do it. We have to take the whole game of one QB or the other. Harbaugh thinks Kaep's complete package is better than Smith's, and it will get better in time. I'm sure he wishes that we could have made the switch earlier and keep the Green Bay win that we got with our defense. Redoing that game with Kaep versus keeping the win with Smith is a no-brainer - it's like taking points off the board, sometimes.

It's the same playbook, but our playcalling choices in the regular season, now that we've clinched, should be working out our gameplan with Kaep. Some might say that it's the same gameplan, but I saw Kaep attempting a lot more deep throws and they weren't the risky ones Smith would avoid. So I do think we call deeper pass plays now that Kaep is willing to take shots. But there were plenty of deep options Smith didn't take.

I'm not talking about what we should do with Kaep. I'm talking about what I think we should have done with this team for this season. In the long run it is great to get Kap some reps - but at the expense of legitimate playoff hopes this year? I don't think that was a good move - hopefully we win the superbowl and I don't know what i'm talking about (which is a distinct possibility). But the old formula got us to the brink of a superbowl and off to a 6-2 start this season, I think it would have been worth sticking with it for the rest of the season.

The offense is definitely mercurial - 13, 27, 41, 13 in the past 4 weeks. But that's what you get with a long passing attack sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. And the side effects are a tired out D and a forgotten power running game.

I am definitely less confident in this team this year than I was previously, but Kap is getting experience so hoepfully in the long run that will be good.

 

[MHSL82]

I'm not talking about what we should do with Kaep. I'm talking about what I think we should have done with this team for this season. In the long run it is great to get Kap some reps - but at the expense of legitimate playoff hopes this year? I don't think that was a good move - hopefully we win the superbowl and I don't know what i'm talking about (which is a distinct possibility). But the old formula got us to the brink of a superbowl and off to a 6-2 start this season, I think it would have been worth sticking with it for the rest of the season.

The offense is definitely mercurial - 13, 27, 41, 13 in the past 4 weeks. But that's what you get with a long passing attack sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. And the side effects are a tired out D and a forgotten power running game.

I am definitely less confident in this team this year than I was previously, but Kap is getting experience so hoepfully in the long run that will be good.

Ohhhhh, ok. It's just that there are so few people saying we should have gone with Smith, I just assumed you were going with Kaep. If going with Smith, play to Smith's strengths. If going with Kaep, play with his strengths, but understand that we came and prepared with one formula and it takes a whole team to adjust if they are to play to Kaep's strengths. We passed a lot in the game and not all of that was in catchup. We took deep shots in the game, which can lead to points or a tired defense and bad field position. This sounds obvious, but hard to do. So while I wouldn't just start doing ball control with Kaep with no risks, I wouldn't also go aggressive, then conservative, then aggressive, etc. I trust they'll find some balance, as it seems the coaching staff has hurt Kaep's games a lot. I may be wrong of course, maybe they saved him from himself, but I don't think that's it.

Based on who we played, I would have assumed the scores to be 13, 41, 27, 13 if given those four numbers.

 

[iHATEdodgers]

Ohhhhh, ok. It's just that there are so few people saying we should have gone with Smith, I just assumed you were going with Kaep. If going with Smith, play to Smith's strengths. If going with Kaep, play with his strengths, but understand that we came and prepared with one formula and it takes a whole team to adjust if they are to play to Kaep's strengths. We passed a lot in the game and not all of that was in catchup. We took deep shots in the game, which can lead to points or a tired defense and bad field position. This sounds obvious, but hard to do. So while I wouldn't just start doing ball control with Kaep with no risks, I wouldn't also go aggressive, then conservative, then aggressive, etc. I trust they'll find some balance, as it seems the coaching staff has hurt Kaep's games a lot. I may be wrong of course, maybe they saved him from himself, but I don't think that's it.

Based on who we played, I would have assumed the scores to be 13, 41, 27, 13 if given those four numbers.

I was definitely opposed to the move at that point in the season, and i really havent changed my opinion, its definitely Kap's team now and thats just the way it is - going forward I don't really have a problem with that but i think it was a bad move for this season.

Looks to me like it's falling apart now - kinda bummed about how this season is turning at the end here. But hey next week they go out and light it up and maybe they regain some momentum and bring it into the playoffs, and anything can happen.

 

[Jikkle]

Either QB would've lost that game.

It's not an excuse but that kind of two game stretch not very many teams are going to come out of it 2-0.

Whether the beat down is a good thing or bad thing remains to be seen but we do generally respond well to losses. If the team truly has champion mettle then this defeat should serve as fuel to be fired up the rest of the way.

 

[Flyingiguana]

Ohhhhh, ok. It's just that there are so few people saying we should have gone with Smith, I just assumed you were going with Kaep. If going with Smith, play to Smith's strengths. If going with Kaep, play with his strengths, but understand that we came and prepared with one formula and it takes a whole team to adjust if they are to play to Kaep's strengths. We passed a lot in the game and not all of that was in catchup. We took deep shots in the game, which can lead to points or a tired defense and bad field position. This sounds obvious, but hard to do. So while I wouldn't just start doing ball control with Kaep with no risks, I wouldn't also go aggressive, then conservative, then aggressive, etc. I trust they'll find some balance, as it seems the coaching staff has hurt Kaep's games a lot. I may be wrong of course, maybe they saved him from himself, but I don't think that's it.

Based on who we played, I would have assumed the scores to be 13, 41, 27, 13 if given those four numbers.

The play calling was bad. It's good to ttake shots but we need to get back to being a run first team. The play calling still looks so random.

 

[deep9er]

didn't think the play calling was that bad. but when your offense struggles, play calling is an easy target.

felt Seattle was stacking the line and daring us to throw? it made since with the weather being what it was. but Kaep just wasn't accurate enough, and as already mentioned, simply wasn't good making decisions.

no tears, just gear up again for Arizona and not let this drag you down. can't worry about the #2 seed now, just win the game you can control.

 

[MHSL82]

I was definitely opposed to the move at that point in the season, and i really havent changed my opinion, its definitely Kap's team now and thats just the way it is - going forward I don't really have a problem with that but i think it was a bad move for this season.

Looks to me like it's falling apart now - kinda bummed about how this season is turning at the end here. But hey next week they go out and light it up and maybe they regain some momentum and bring it into the playoffs, and anything can happen.

Ok, I knew you have been supportive of Smith in the past, I wasn't sure where you currently stood on the switch. Good to hear other opinions. I was and am one of the few that believe we could and had a good chance to win with Smith, not because or in spite of Smith, but once Harbaugh chose Kaep, I believe he could win it, too. But with either QB, I hope we run it more than the Seattle game and I hope our defense shows up.

 

[HighTopFade]

Seattle reminds me of the early 90s Cowboys. They're young and not going away. I hated them with the passion.