I think the reason why screens are ineffective is that defenses are less aggressive in pressuring Kaep due to his running ability. They tend to hold back on their rushes to prevent him from getting away. With defense doing that, they are not getting pulled in and nullifying the effectiveness of the screen
That sure wasn't the case last Sunday. They completley intimidated him.
He did put that one ball right on McDonald's hands on Sunday. Shouldda been the game winner. Fucking McDonald!
It's hard for me to blame McDonald TOO much for that one. Kuechly made a great play, hitting McDonald's arm just as the ball arrived. Maybe a split second before it arrived. It would have been a hard catch for anyone, especially any TE.
I gotta take issue with that. he caught it cleanly and it looked to me like the LB got his arm as he was trying to readjust the ball into his gut. I suppose it wasn't the easiest play but, imo, he should have made that play.
He could have and should have made the catch; I just think the reason he didn't had everything to do with a very good defensive play. But I swear on the replay Kuechly started grabbing his arm just as the ball arrived. I was pretty pissed at that point, so I don't really trust anything I saw....
OT, but re-watching some of the highlights looking for that play, I just saw Rogers absolutely whiff on the TD. What a pathetic attempt at a tackle. It's like he was trying to hold Williams' hand. Reid also needed to make the tackle. Just a heart-breaker.
I was just reading the sports section from the local paper and Kap took exception to Dilfer's comments. Kap responded "I think you should ask Dilfer if he knows what my progression is first before he says that." Kap also pointed out that Dilfer does not know what the QB's progression is supposed to be for a given game plan or specific sequence.
Coach Harbaugh added this about Kap. "It's been a very good, steady progression for him. We don't think anything's wrong with Colin. We feel his progression's been very good. He's played winning football for us, and that's what we expect."
Of course Harbaugh would defend his players. I would not expect anything less. But to say that his progression has been very good is a head scratcher.
Geez, Kaepernick is a thin-skinned son of a gun! Instead of spending so much time defending himself on shit like twitter and learn how to play the position. Its clear that what Dilfer said is true just by watching Kaepernick's performance. Kaepernick is acting like a silly little boy.
So true. I was dumb founded when Kap stated that Dilfer doesn't know what a qb's progression. That made me laugh. He needs to take it like a man and start playing better.
OT, but re-watching some of the highlights looking for that play, I just saw Rogers absolutely whiff on the TD. What a pathetic attempt at a tackle. It's like he was trying to hold Williams' hand. Reid also needed to make the tackle. Just a heart-breaker.
I mean we heard a couple of years ago Alex Smith was a "One Read QB" and Harbaugh and Roman were making things easy on him by giving him one read. At first you assumed it was because Smith was a limited passer but now you're hearing the same thing with Kap so now it makes you question how much is on the QB himself and how much of it is by desgin.
But Harbaugh has also changed the entire theory behind how Smith and his offense approach the blitz, and this is where Smith's greatest improvement has come. That's because Harbaugh eliminated "sight adjustments" from the 49ers playbook. Indeed, this change has been so successful that, according to Pro Football Focus, Smith's completion percentage, quarterback rating, average yards per attempt, and touchdown-to-interception ratio against blitzes have all been much better than Smith's historical averages, but also better than his performance on all other downs.
A "sight adjustment" by a receiver refers to the concept that, if a defense blitzes, the quarterback and receiver must both — on the fly and after the snap — recognize it and adjust routes accordingly. For example, if the receiver's original assignment was to run, say, 12 yards upfield before breaking outside, when he saw a blitz he might instead run five yards upfield and then break inside on a quick slant, presumably away from a man-to-man defender or to a spot left open by the blitzers. The theory behind this is sound: You simply must have answers against the blitz, and you need receivers to break off their routes to give the quarterback someplace to quickly pass the ball. If they don't blitz, however, you want to throw downfield (or so you think). Again, this is all great
in theory.
Obviously the D has played well this year, but some weird reversals from the recent past. Our pass D actually seems to be quite improved, while our run D has struggled. And this is just a feeling, don't have stats to back it up, but it feels like we've been much more effective between the 20s, but have been pretty bad in the red zone. In prior years, it felt like we would give up some longer drives, but would always tighten up in the red zone. This year we've forced a lot of punts, but once we get in the red zone it seems like teams are getting a lot more TDs. Particularly running the ball.
Tend to agree. Dilfer may not know the particular reads, but he can tell if Kap is looking at his first or second read. Even the casual fan can do that. And Kap isn't far enough along to look off his first read at this point.
I wouldn't mind seeing Kap take a bit more responsibility for the struggles. But he seems to get motivation from negative feedback, so maybe this week he puts together a legit game through the air.