coach Harbaugh underprepared?

[maniax]

Anyone get the feeling that in big games, maybe coach Harbaugh has the team slightly underprepared?

1) Giants NFC championship game two years ago: Coughlin was telling his team on ST to make ball security #1 priority, Harbaugh was playing STs a little more lose to try to bust the big play, maybe to compensate for Alex Smith. Result: turnovers on ST that lost the game.

2) Kaep came out flat against ATL and BALT in the playoffs last year, took him 1 half to settle down.
I felt like John Harbaugh had his team calm and collected in comparison in the 1st half.

3) Felt a little like we didn't have the right gameplan in the last two losses in Seattle. But probably the toughest place you can play in the NFL. Bad gameplan, bad execution on offense, bad penalties.

Don't get me wrong I think Harbaugh is a great coach and motivator, but maybe his restless and excited personality rubs off on the team, and he could use a little more calm and collected at times???

 

[RoboticDreams]

I highly doubt they were underprepared after the beating we took against them last time in Seattle. They are our main competitor in getting to the Super Bowl this year. They are a matchup nightmare for the 49ers and were playing at home, plus we couldn't run at all. If you can't run then you have problems opening up the pass againt the best secondary in the league. We are also short two recievers that we desperately need against them.


I'm not ready to panic just yet. I think if anything, you are right about them needing to settle down and not force the issue. Kaep did way too much of that and it cost us.

 

[MHSL82]

I highly doubt they were underprepared after the beating we took against them last time in Seattle. They are our main competitor in getting to the Super Bowl this year. They are a matchup nightmare for the 49ers and were playing at home, plus we couldn't run at all. If you can't run then you have problems opening up the pass againt the best secondary in the league. We are also short two recievers that we desperately need against them.


I'm not ready to panic just yet. I think if anything, you are right about them needing to settle down and not force the issue. Kaep did way too much of that and it cost us.

Conspiracy theory: Harbaugh wants Seattle to think they figured us out, beat us in a less meaningful game (though securing home field is better), get complacent, and have no clue what our plan is for that January game (or rather think they have a clue but don't). We surprised New York in the regular season by passing a lot to start the game with Smith but then after scoring two TDs by passing a lot, they stopped us. Had we run a lot in the first regular season game, we would have surprised them by passing in the NFCC. Show nothing.

Ok, I'll take off my conspiracy hat now. Harbaugh is a competitor and while playoffs > NFCC, he'll do whatever he can to win every time.

 

[imac_21]

I don't think he was underprepared. I think as a team we were just poorly prepared. Everything we tried Seattle had an answer for.

Losing Williams hurt more than I expected it too as well. That's when Seattle started getting chunks on the ground. As soon as they started getting 4 yards per carry, that was enough to be the difference.

Also, I miss Cully.

 

[TruHoxFan]

Here's a thought: If the 49ers (or any other team for that matter) ever learns how to feed off of that Seattle crowd's intensity, the Seahawks are in deep shit.

 

[TobyTyler]

Anyone get the feeling that in big games, maybe coach Harbaugh has the team slightly underprepared?

1) Giants NFC championship game two years ago: Coughlin was telling his team on ST to make ball security #1 priority, Harbaugh was playing STs a little more lose to try to bust the big play, maybe to compensate for Alex Smith. Result: turnovers on ST that lost the game.

2) Kaep came out flat against ATL and BALT in the playoffs last year, took him 1 half to settle down.
I felt like John Harbaugh had his team calm and collected in comparison in the 1st half.

3) Felt a little like we didn't have the right gameplan in the last two losses in Seattle. But probably the toughest place you can play in the NFL. Bad gameplan, bad execution on offense, bad penalties.

Don't get me wrong I think Harbaugh is a great coach and motivator, but maybe his restless and excited personality rubs off on the team, and he could use a little more calm and collected at times???

He definitely was not prepared for the Super Bowl or this latest Seattle game. He is pretty good at game planning but if for one reason or another his original plan is not working he is lost when it comes to making adjustments.

 

[RoboticDreams]

He definitely was not prepared for the Super Bowl or this latest Seattle game. He is pretty good at game planning but if for one reason or another his original plan is not working he is lost when it comes to making adjustments.

He seemed to make proper adjustments against Baltimore. Seattle is a thorn in our side.

Harbaugh is capable of making in game adjustments. The players have to be capable of making it happen.

 

[Flyingiguana]

imo they try to do too much planning.

 

[Pattersonca65]

He definitely was not prepared for the Super Bowl or this latest Seattle game. He is pretty good at game planning but if for one reason or another his original plan is not working he is lost when it comes to making adjustments.

Greg Cosell of NFL films had an interesting take. He said watching film he was surprised the Niners just lined people up straight. No bunch formations or anything else to try and get receivers open.

 

[TobyTyler]

Greg Cosell of NFL films had an interesting take. He said watching film he was surprised the Niners just lined people up straight. No bunch formations or anything else to try and get receivers open.

I agree with Cosell. Harbaugh wanted to beat Carroll down with a mano a mano approach. he did not prepare properly. he usd to do that stuff at Stanford with huge offensive linemen and a big bully running back and he was successful there. That shit don't fly in the pros.

 

[yossarian]

Greg Cosell of NFL films had an interesting take. He said watching film he was surprised the Niners just lined people up straight. No bunch formations or anything else to try and get receivers open.

I almost never have the in depth analysis that other people on this board provide, so when it does happen it's a shock to me. I said in another thread they should have run bunch formations, the Seattle announcers in a few of the pre season games had noted how the Seahawks were having trouble with teams that ran it (and the opposing teams did not have stellar receivers).

As far as being unprepared -- one of the other posters mentioned Kaep taking a while to settle down. Kevin Lynch had a chat and he noted that Kaepernick was extremely unsettled this game and other games as well, that Kyle Williams was open the entire first half but Kaepernick wasn't seeing him. I don't know how Kaepernick's skittishness in these games is the fault of Harbaugh, that's a personality makeup, maybe Kaepernick needs to meditate or do yoga before these games.

 

[clyde_carbon]

I don't think he was underprepared. I think as a team we were just poorly prepared. Everything we tried Seattle had an answer for.

Losing Williams hurt more than I expected it too as well. That's when Seattle started getting chunks on the ground. As soon as they started getting 4 yards per carry, that was enough to be the difference.

Also, I miss Cully.

Absolutely. Cully Archipelago IS the speed in the secondary. Losing him hurts more than anyone thought, IMO.

 

[clyde_carbon]

I agree with Cosell. Harbaugh wanted to beat Carroll down with a mano a mano approach. he did not prepare properly. he usd to do that stuff at Stanford with huge offensive linemen and a big bully running back and he was successful there. That shit don't fly in the pros.

We bullied pretty much everyone (except the Seahawks) last year with our OL.

 

[Kinzu]

Here's a thought: If the 49ers (or any other team for that matter) ever learns how to feed off of that Seattle crowd's intensity, the Seahawks are in deep shit.

To me you have to have a prowrestling approach to playing in environments like that. That might sound silly to some, but I think it's pretty accurate. When you play on the road you have to be able to take the negative cheers as a positive sign and let that feed your adrenaline. The louder the crowd the better you're doing you're doing job.

 

[deep9er]

He seemed to make proper adjustments against Baltimore. Seattle is a thorn in our side.

Harbaugh is capable of making in game adjustments. The players have to be capable of making it happen.

yep, it comes down to the players executing.

every team has bad games and hence upsets every week. so i'd like think this was partly the case here.

 

[TobyTyler]

We bullied pretty much everyone (except the Seahawks) last year with our OL.

I disagree. The Rams shut us down completely twice last year and they certainly didn't bully the Giants or Vikings even though they tried. And once Kaepernick got in they certainly didn't try to run on the Bears or Patriots, they really opened it up. he has a thing for Carroll, I believe and he wants to physically beat him. Granted he didn't have much choice in the first Seattle game with Smith at the helm.

 

[MHSL82]

I disagree. The Rams shut us down completely twice last year and they certainly didn't bully the Giants or Vikings even though they tried. And once Kaepernick got in they certainly didn't try to run on the Bears or Patriots, they really opened it up. he has a thing for Carroll, I believe and he wants to physically beat him. Granted he didn't have much choice in the first Seattle game with Smith at the helm.

He didn't have much choice than to get physical to win it when Smith was there but we won. I believe if we had successfully gotten physical with them with Kaepernick, even on the road we could win. We have to wait until the playoffs to beat them at home - and even then, we hope it's on our field - if nothing else but the ability to win the last Candlestick playoff game at home in a non-divisional game.

 

[iowajerms]

I don't think it was the lack of preparation that the 49ers lost. That would mean Seattle totally dominated, which didn't happen. It was 12-7 going into the 4th. It was in the 4th when Seattle's offense really took over. The 49ers were prepared, but I think Seattle did much better adjusting during the game. Both coaches were prepared, Carroll just out-coached Harbaugh.

I was also tired of Harbaugh not letting the Matthews-Kaepernick incident go.

 

[MrChangoT97]

I blame the playbook. I think its too BIG and nobody fully understands the whole playbook.

 

[Crimsoncrew]

He definitely was not prepared for the Super Bowl or this latest Seattle game. He is pretty good at game planning but if for one reason or another his original plan is not working he is lost when it comes to making adjustments.

I can't agree with that. The team made major adjustments in both the NFC Championship game and the Super Bowl this past year and staged fairly incredible comebacks. I don't know how much of that is Harbaugh vs. the coordinators, but the coaching staff as a whole has shown an ability to adapt. In fact, we're primarily been a second-half team under Harbaugh. It may be that the initial game-planning is the greater weakness.