My review/thoughts on the game

[purguy12]

Kaps game management has gotten a lot better the last couple of games. Happy to see that. Also happy to see Crabtree almost get back to what he was. I think come playoff time he will be set to go. Little by little he is getting there. He has got better every game.

A. Smith I think took a step back last night but think overall he will be fine. I still think this team needs another pass rusher. Cant depend on A. Smith and J. Smith to get sacks. I thought brooks was getting there but the truth most of his sacks and pressures are in a handful of games. I think 6 of his sacks are in 2 games.

 

[TobyTyler]

Kaps game management has gotten a lot better the last couple of games. Happy to see that. Also happy to see Crabtree almost get back to what he was. I think come playoff time he will be set to go. Little by little he is getting there. He has got better every game.

A. Smith I think took a step back last night but think overall he will be fine. I still think this team needs another pass rusher. Cant depend on A. Smith and J. Smith to get sacks. I thought brooks was getting there but the truth most of his sacks and pressures are in a handful of games. I think 6 of his sacks are in 2 games.

Crabtree is really starting to grow on me. He's very fluid. I love to watch him catch a pass and the first thing on his mind is more yards.

 

[NinerSickness]

Anyone notice Crabby looks a little chubbier than he has in the past? I'm not sure he's even in football shape at this point. He could probably lose a good 5 to 7 pounds. Not saying he didn't play great; just making the observation.

 

[Jikkle]

Did Davis get shut out last night? I only remember him clumsily stepping out of bounds on a ball he should have had and dropping another pass from Kaepernick that, in his defense, was poorly thrown.

It was poorly thrown from the standpoint that he didn't throw it to him in stride that would allow him to run for more yardage but it was an extremely catchable ball.

VD was out on the sideline for a series or two and I believe he was having an issue with his eyes as they said they had to flush them during halftime so I believe he was just having trouble seeing clearly.

 

[Rvnight18]

It was poorly thrown from the standpoint that he didn't throw it to him in stride that would allow him to run for more yardage but it was an extremely catchable ball.

VD was out on the sideline for a series or two and I believe he was having an issue with his eyes as they said they had to flush them during halftime so I believe he was just having trouble seeing clearly.

He was poked in the eye pretty good

 

[purguy12]

He also missed a wide open TD. Just one of those games.

 

[sjballer03]

Regardless, as an Atlanta fan of 46 years, I knew they were going to lose. They always do, after all. Is it any wonder why we don't fill the stadiums and arenas around here? After a half century of game after game after game like this, is it any wonder that we eventually lose hope for Atlanta pro sports teams?

Which is interesting because you guys are able to get new stadiums so easily while the current venues aren't very old.

 

[Chamoanlad]

Anyone notice Crabby looks a little chubbier than he has in the past? I'm not sure he's even in football shape at this point. He could probably lose a good 5 to 7 pounds. Not saying he didn't play great; just making the observation.

There have been two catches this year where it looked like he could take it the house, but was run down from behind pretty easily. Crab has never been a burner, but I would say his speed isn't quite there yet. His quickness definitely is. I've seen quite a few replays from this game and others where he's doing double moves and totally having CB's off balance or spinning.

He may not be in game shape, but with his injury he obviously missed all of training camp and most the season and I doubt he was doing or was able to do a ton of conditioning on the side. He's getting better every week and he's fresh from all the time off. I'm excited to see Crab and Peterson from Arizona go at it again this week.

 

[TobyTyler]

Anyone notice Crabby looks a little chubbier than he has in the past? I'm not sure he's even in football shape at this point. He could probably lose a good 5 to 7 pounds. Not saying he didn't play great; just making the observation.

I think that's to be expected though.

 

[TobyTyler]

It was poorly thrown from the standpoint that he didn't throw it to him in stride that would allow him to run for more yardage but it was an extremely catchable ball.

VD was out on the sideline for a series or two and I believe he was having an issue with his eyes as they said they had to flush them during halftime so I believe he was just having trouble seeing clearly.

It was flapping like a wounded duck though. Not even close to a spiral. I agree though, it hit his hands and he should have caught it. Kaepernick, I'm sure, would be the first to tell you it was a poor throw though.

But the question remains unanswered; did Davis get shut out last night?

 

[Jikkle]

I do want to say you have to tip your cap to the Falcons as they did fight pretty hard and a lot harder then most people expected.

I do believe they are a good team with just a bad record and they were in the NFC Championship game last year so they aren't a 4 win team on the level of the Bucs, Jags, or Raiders.

The secondary didn't have a great night but I only worry about those things when they become trends not just one offs. Reid struggled but it's really been more surprising that he hasn't struggled more considering he's a rookie so that didn't bother me.

What concerns me is the pass rush and more specifically Fangio being too vanilla with his schemes. I think in terms of our players along the front we do get actually get a good push all things considered but you're not going to win many battles when it's 5 vs 4 and especially 6 vs 4 when they kept the back in. Also when you keep things vanilla offense know what to expect and it makes it easier for them to block since they don't have to think as much. A lot of sacks and pressure is created when you cause the offensive line confusion and you cause them to blow blocks not just physically beat them.

Offensively the major concern for me is Kap needs to trust his line more stay in the pocket longer. It seems like once the clock goes off in his head he just runs out of the pocket regardless of his situation. I believe if he could hang in the pocket longer and go through his progressions and make proper throws things would fall into place.

In his defense though I will say Goodwin and the interior of line doesn't command a lot of trust. I think one of the major differences from this season compared to last is we are noticeably worse when it comes to interior pass protection and that's always going to have a negative effect on a QB especially a young one.

 

[Jikkle]

It was flapping like a wounded duck though. Not even close to a spiral. I agree though, it hit his hands and he should have caught it. Kaepernick, I'm sure, would be the first to tell you it was a poor throw though.

But the question remains unanswered; did Davis get shut out last night?

My Vernon Davis sitting with 0 points on my fantasy team does confirm he got shut out last night.

I agree it was a poor throw and I thought it looked like it slipped a little bit when it left Kap's hand but I think his vision was the issue because it didn't even hit his hands but above them and into that chest/stomach area. So just seemed like he knew the ball was coming but couldn't properly track it and was just guessing on where it was going.

 

[Breaker99]

One last thought...

That one pass from Steve Young to Jerry Rice......

Rice's foot was totally on the line...

 

[BINGO]

Bowman's pick-six more impressive upon inspection | Chat49ers.com

 

[bvanthielriceyoung]

Anyone notice Crabby looks a little chubbier than he has in the past? I'm not sure he's even in football shape at this point. He could probably lose a good 5 to 7 pounds. Not saying he didn't play great; just making the observation.

No, personally not really seeing that. I think his size looks just like how he did in the past. His speed is obviously different though.

 

[bvanthielriceyoung]

Offensively the major concern for me is Kap needs to trust his line more stay in the pocket longer. It seems like once the clock goes off in his head he just runs out of the pocket regardless of his situation. I believe if he could hang in the pocket longer and go through his progressions and make proper throws things would fall into place.

Definitely agree and a good point to bring up. Kaepernick doesn't really manipulate the pocket very well. He'll create pressure when there is barely anything there and make situations worse than they could potentially be.

 

[ChrisPozz]

Apparently a number of Atlanta radio stations were bombarded with calls last night and this morning with fans screaming that Harbaugh should've been flagged on Bowman's return for having THREE-QUARTERS of one shoe across the white and onto the actual field.

Of course it's not flag-worthy because Harbaugh didn't interfere with anybody on the return - official or player(s).

 

[Jikkle]

Apparently a number of Atlanta radio stations were bombarded with calls last night and this morning with fans screaming that Harbaugh should've been flagged on Bowman's return for having THREE-QUARTERS of one shoe across the white and onto the actual field.

Of course it's not flag-worthy because Harbaugh didn't interfere with anybody on the return - official or player(s).

Technically he should've been called for it but no referee is going to call it since he was barely on the field and had 0 impact on the play.

I mean you could call offensive holding and defensive holding nearly every play as well but they won't call it unless it's something that impacts the play.

 

[RobertPhD01]

I think Jerry was in a hurry to get out of the mud!

 

[sjballer03]

Apparently a number of Atlanta radio stations were bombarded with calls last night and this morning with fans screaming that Harbaugh should've been flagged on Bowman's return for having THREE-QUARTERS of one shoe across the white and onto the actual field.

Of course it's not flag-worthy because Harbaugh didn't interfere with anybody on the return - official or player(s).

They didn't call it on Mike Tomlin and he was directly in the path of Jacoby Jones. Harbaugh might have stepped onto the field, but Bowman was ahead of him at that point.