My Thoughts On The Game (Read At Your Peril)

[TobyTyler]

Your buddy's are wrong. You can hit the rb in the helmet if he's running at you protected). You can't if he's being stood up (unprotected).

I thought it was a foul from the first view of it and the replay,I MO, only verified it.

 

[jayviabay]

1. Wow, wow, wow!

2. I think you could say that Kaepernick played the best game by any quarterback in the league this year

3. Crabtree is playing as well as any reciver in the league right now. If you disagree, please feel free to tell me who is playing better.

4. The difference in the defense with Justin Smith in there, even a hobbled Justin Smith, is stunning. He is the man.

5. Brown is becoming the best DB on the team. We never heard Carlos Rogers' name during the game; that's got to be a good thing, he must have shut his man down. Goldson, however, in his constant search for the big hit and failure to control himself, is quickly becoming a liability to the team.

6. Kudos to Roman and Harbaugh for having the balls to take the shackles off of Kaepernick and let him play. It worked. The game plan was brilliant after a few stinkers in previous weeks.

I dont think it was about taking the shackles off. It was more of not allowing history to repeat itself. When you display everything during the regular season what you are capable of doing, you give the opposing team a lot of game film on you. I believe Giants players have been quoted with stating, they knew pretty much every play Smith was running and audibles that he called.

Teams can not prepare for the unknown. Im pretty sure CK could rush for over a 100 on 16 carries in every game but when he became the starter we didnt see him keep the ball as much on the read option.

 

[threelittleturds]

Roman did say after the game that they intentionally went away from the pistol package with Kaepernick in the Seattle and Arizona games in order to make the first playoff opponent overlook it. That strategy worked out pretty well for the 49ers.

 

[threelittleturds]

Oh yeah, as good as the O-Line played... Goodwin is scaring the shit out of me with the shotgun snaps for the pistol offense. The 49ers are damn lucky that when he snapped it early that didn't turn into a turnover or go flying behind Kaepernick to kill the drive.

On the replay it seemed like CK saw the ball coming out of the corner of his eye and got his hand in the way to deflect the snap down, if that is true, what a great reaction by CK.

 

[TobyTyler]

Roman did say after the game that they intentionally went away from the pistol package with Kaepernick in the Seattle and Arizona games in order to make the first playoff opponent overlook it. That strategy worked out pretty well for the 49ers.

If that is true, I give the staff even more credit.

 

[MHSL82]

8. No one can any longer say that Alex Smith should have remained the starting QB. He simply could not have done what Colin Kaepernick did today. I'm fully on board. We finally saw what we've been waiting for since the Chicago game.

Some good points there.

And yeah, the Smith vs Kaepernick argument is officially over. Smith would not have won this game for us.

[/B]I'd go so far as to say that very few QBs in the entire league could have.

I don't want to stir the pot, and I am completely on board with Kap - have been since the Bears game - but with the D effectively holding the Packers to 17, I think Alex had a good shot of winning the game for us. It wouldn't have been nearly as dominant a performance, though.

That was the key. Those huge runs by Kaepernick when the protection broke down probably would have been Sacks with Smith back there.

I agree with everyone here except for part of the bolded - he could have won the game as the starting QB, but I would agree in part that he wouldn't have "won it for us" as in be the difference-maker. I won't say we would have won with Smith, but the game would be entirely different with Smith in there - one in which we could have won. If Smith were asked to do what Kaep did, we'd have lost or barely come through (the pick six and our defense gave some wiggle room for that). But he's not asked to do what Kaep does, they'd have a different game plan with Smith and we had been winning before with Smith. The Packers, as good as they are, aren't like the Giants were when we played them.

The Packers were off because of the same defense that would have been playing with Smith. The Packers D, just because they got dominated by Kaep, doesn't mean they would have been great in defense against Smith. The running game was doing well, albeit greatly due to their fear of Kaep that you don't have in Smith. But we would have still run the ball and the Packers do allow some running. Smith probably wouldn't have thrown the pick six, but that would have likely been a three and out from a sack or short scramble if he were in that exact situation.

So, I stick to what I said pre-game - if we lost, I wouldn't say that Smith should have been in there or would have won. And if we won, I wouldn't say that Alex would have lost. Harbaugh made the right choice, I just don't think that assuming we would have tried to execute the same plan with Smith would be accurate. I agree with the comments that the QB conversation as to who should start is over, that Alex would have been sacked more (though no pick six, likely), very few QBs if any could do what Kaep did, and Smith is not one of them. I'm fully on board and have been since seeing the NO and Bears game coupled with all the non-football things that make Kaep a good person to root for.

 

[MHSL82]

1. Wow, wow, wow!

2. I think you could say that Kaepernick played the best game by any quarterback in the league this year

3. Crabtree is playing as well as any reciver in the league right now. If you disagree, please feel free to tell me who is playing better.

4. The difference in the defense with Justin Smith in there, even a hobbled Justin Smith, is stunning. He is the man.

6. Kudos to Roman and Harbaugh for having the balls to take the shackles off of Kaepernick and let him play. It worked. The game plan was brilliant after a few stinkers in previous weeks.

7. The coolest thing about the replay of Goldson's late hit was seeing Justin Smith's ugly mug pop up out of the middle of the pile without a helmet. That was awesome. I love that dude.

10. Great job by the special teams. Well done to Spillman, Akers and, of course, Andy Lee.

Wholly agree with all of this above. Great post, as the only thing I didn't include was the parts in which I abstain comment due to not being a big defense guy and number 8 where I clarified my thoughts in the post above this.

 

[MHSL82]

Well Kaep's ability to extend the drive/downs also ate up clock which sat down discount double check for nearly 40 mins of the game

Is it just me or does Aaron Rodgers seem to discount double check out of games when things aren't going well? There was no point in the second half where I thought we'd lose. And that had nothing to do with our offense or their defense. Maybe it's just me.

 

[MHSL82]

Roman did say after the game that they intentionally went away from the pistol package with Kaepernick in the Seattle and Arizona games in order to make the first playoff opponent overlook it. That strategy worked out pretty well for the 49ers.

I either suggested this or forgot to suggest this two weeks ago, but I thought I'd be laughed out of the room by people saying that the Niners would never do that because every game is important and we wouldn't sacrifice winning for surprise later. But then again, abandoning parts of the pistol isn't sacrificing, it just seemed they weren't playing to Kaep's strengths, like minimalizing the win, but getting the win. Kaep wasn't as good in the Seattle and Arizona games, maybe the reason for all the parity with Smith in stats was because he's not that type of QB. Harbaugh picked the right offense for Smith (which would be underusing Kaep) and the right offense for Kaep (which Smith doesn't have the skills to do it like Kaep). We still haven't taken all the risks with either QB and both QBs, pick six, lucky fumble bounces, and Giants game notwithstanding, are good at protecting the ball.

 

[TobyTyler]

Is it just me or does Aaron Rodgers seem to discount double check out of games when things aren't going well? There was no point in the second half where I thought we'd lose. And that had nothing to do with our offense or their defense. Maybe it's just me.

It may sound strange with Rodgers being MVP and all but I don't think I'd trade Kaepernick for him at this point. He looks like he is going to be really good.

 

[threelittleturds]

I either suggested this or forgot to suggest this two weeks ago, but I thought I'd be laughed out of the room by people saying that the Niners would never do that because every game is important and we wouldn't sacrifice winning for surprise later. But then again, abandoning parts of the pistol isn't sacrificing, it just seemed they weren't playing to Kaep's strengths, like minimalizing the win, but getting the win. Kaep wasn't as good in the Seattle and Arizona games, maybe the reason for all the parity with Smith in stats was because he's not that type of QB. Harbaugh picked the right offense for Smith (which would be underusing Kaep) and the right offense for Kaep (which Smith doesn't have the skills to do it like Kaep). We still haven't taken all the risks with either QB and both QBs, pick six, lucky fumble bounces, and Giants game notwithstanding, are good at protecting the ball.

They probably thought they could win without it, and they might have too if there wasn't so much bad luck in the Seahawks game. So they probably didn't feel like they were sacrificing a win, probably just felt they were sacrificing a 600 yard offensive effort

 

[NinerSickness]

It may sound strange with Rodgers being MVP and all but I don't think I'd trade Kaepernick for him at this point. He looks like he is going to be really good.

That's insane.

 

[TobyTyler]

That's insane.

He outplayed him once head to head already and Rodgers is 5 years older.

 

[NinerSickness]

He outplayed him once head to head already and Rodgers is 5 years older.

Like I said.

 

[TobyTyler]

Like I said.

Dont' forget, Kaepernick has beaten Rodgers, Brady and Brees all in half a season.

 

[NinerSickness]

Like I said.

Dont' forget, Kaepernick has beaten Rodgers, Brady and Brees all in half a season.

I noticed. Your statement is still

 

[MHSL82]

Dont' forget, Kaepernick has beaten Rodgers, Brady and Brees all in half a season.

We beat Eli, Rodgers, and Brees within a short span, too. I think we would have beaten the Patriots in the SB, too. It definitely has been fun to be a Niner these past two years.

 

[MHSL82]

All but the last minute: