NFCCG - Niners at Rams

[Montalban]

GG Jimmy debuff to much to overcome today. Tartt probably dropped the Super Bowl.

The NFL wanted the Rams in the Super Bowl too. Officials weren't horrendous but they let the Rams get away with a lot while making some picky calls on us at key moments.

I don't know. The 49ers did it to themselves in my opinion. Couldn't get off the field and countless 3rd and lon situations. I think the Rams punted once in this game.
I think Shanahan fell in love with himself again with his idea of using Samuel as a tailback. Samuel is a wide receiver who was not used as such yesterday. Shanahan is so predictable in what he does.
Every other coach would have tried to win the game on that 4th and 2 from the opponents 40 yard line instead Shanahan chose to try and not lose the game. He turns it over to a defense that had already given up a 98-yard TD drive and another huge drive that they got a lucky on a t tipped pass at the goal line for a pick. Had two TD passes dropped and a FG missed against them.

Did anyone in the world think that Shanahan would actually go for that 4th and 2 when they lined up to pretend they were going for it?

 

[Battlelyon]

You guys had a great year, that exceeded everyone's expectations. Even with Jimmy G, you did as well as you could of. Time to turn the page and see what Lance can do, you still a good running scheme and a great defense to help the kid out. Last night was a battle, it was just a battle in an ongoing war, with a new cast of soldiers

 

[Montalban]

Our luck finally ran out. While I think you could nit pick about the defense giving up a 10 pt lead in the 4th, or the fact that we didn't double Kupp, holding a team to 20 pts in a playoff game is a reasonable outcome. The offense didn't show up at all in the 4th, though - and that's really the story for me. We had our chances... something like 4 possessions in the 4th?? We did squat with those opportunities. Less than squat, actually. And that last possession was just bad - but probably encapsulates Jimmy G's time with this team perfectly. Man, I was rooting for Jimmy, but we needed more than he's capable of delivering. O-Line didn't give him much time at all, so it's not all "Jimmy", but he didn't rise to the occasion. 17 pts in a playoff game just isn't enough.

That being said, lots to look forward to. This season definitely went better than I expected... especially when you look at how they were playing midway through the year. The core of this team (especailly on defense) should be able to compete at a high level for the next several years. Time to get Lance prep'd!! The Rams did a good job of exploiting weaknesses in our defensive backfield and Oline - bulking up in these areas will need to be a priority in the offseason.

Go Bengals, lol!!

I think the Rams held themselves to 20 points. Two dropped TD passes, a missed field goal and another long drive only saved by a lucky tipped pass at the goal line. They did their best to give the game away but the 49ers could not overcome Shanahan and Ryans pathetic game plans. The defense gave up 3rd and 8 through 3rd and 13 8 times during the game. That is unacceptable

But I'm satisfied with what they did this year. this clearly was not a super bowl caliber team; t has no identity and it showed again at the worst time. We can look forward though to seeing what we have in Lance but until they get rid of Shanahan or he gets rid of his fear of the 4th quarter they won't get anywhere.

As for Garoppolo's up and down game, Shanahan put him behind the 8 ball on almost every drive with the constant plunges up the middle on first down which continually left them in 2nd and 11, 2nd and 10, 2nd and 9. That's tough for any Qb to overcome; especially one with Garoppolo's limitations. I wish Garoppolo well and look forward to seeing what he can do with a real head coach like Tomlin or Arians.

 

[Montalban]

You guys had a great year, that exceeded everyone's expectations. Even with Jimmy G, you did as well as you could of. Time to turn the page and see what Lance can do, you still a good running scheme and a great defense to help the kid out. Last night was a battle, it was just a battle in an ongoing war, with a new cast of soldiers

I would like to wish you luck in the Super Bowl but I just cannot do it. As a 49er fan, I've been hating the Rams for over 50 years. I'm sure you understand.

 

[Battlelyon]

I would like to wish you luck in the Super Bowl but I just cannot do it. As a 49er fan, I've been hating the Rams for over 50 years. I'm sure you understand.

I understand, i feel the same.

 

[Montalban]

Stafford's mistakes and dropped passes were the only reason the Niners stayed in the game early on.

On the one hand the D held the Rams' top 10 offense to 20 points. OTOH, the Niners had a 10pt 4th quarter lead and the D couldn't hold it. Didn't help that the offense scored zero points in the 4th quarter. Honestly, if the Niner offense can't put up 20 points in the conference championship game, it's tough to blame the defense. In a game where our usual running game didn't work--kudos to the Rams, they kept 8-9 in the box all day and dared us to pass and we couldn't--and the offense was just about DOA, we missed too many chances
--I've never seen the rams use so much 6 and 7 man protection on passing downs
--is it illegal to double cover Kupp? The ONE guy on defense that we should've focused on...
--Tartt can't drop that INT. It really could've been the difference between winning and losing
--Jimmy skied the ball yards over a wide open Kittle deep down the middle
--Aiyuk has the runaway TD, but his momentum took him out of bounds
--Jimmy passes were too often late and behind (like Stafford's)
--the inside running plays/sets didn't work and we didn't adjust effectively
--Brunskill got killed most of the day, continuing his streak as our worst OL
--the refs weren't all that bad for a change (compare them to the blind refs in the KC/Cincy game), but how do they miss the personal foul on Deebo?

Overall, this season went better than I expected. After this Niner post season, and most of the last one, I think it's rather easy for folks to see why we're making a change at QB. We also need to see upgrades at RG and DB to go with better depth at Edge, TE, OT, and RB. Next season will likely see the Niners struggle for a while as Lance gets his feet under him, though with him at QB, I expect to see some significant changes in the Niner passing offense, which has become too dependent on play action.

I told you Shanahan would continue to beat his head against the wall with the inside run game. His limitations as a planner simply do not allow him to make in game adjustments. The constant 2nd and 11, 2nd and 10, second and 9 brought on by the predictable running plays killed any chance the 49ers had to get an offense going. Sometimes you gotta pass to set up the run. Walsh new that, Shanahan doesn't.

As for Ryans. someone should have told him Kupp was a good player. Even the worst defenses can take away one player, the best defenses should be able to take away one whole aspect of the game. Inexplicably the 49ers let Kupp run free. he scored both the Rasm touchdowns and made the two plays that led to their two field goals. His inexperience really showed last night

 

[Montalban]

I understand, i feel the same.

I will say this. The better team won last night, they deserved it.

 

[Dean_Youngblood]

I think the Rams held themselves to 20 points. Two dropped TD passes, a missed field goal and another long drive only saved by a lucky tipped pass at the goal line. They did their best to give the game away but the 49ers could not overcome Shanahan and Ryans pathetic game plans. The defense gave up 3rd and 8 through 3rd and 13 8 times during the game. That is unacceptable

But I'm satisfied with what they did this year. this clearly was not a super bowl caliber team; t has no identity and it showed again at the worst time. We can look forward though to seeing what we have in Lance but until they get rid of Shanahan or he gets rid of his fear of the 4th quarter they won't get anywhere.

As for Garoppolo's up and down game, Shanahan put him behind the 8 ball on almost every drive with the constant plunges up the middle on first down which continually left them in 2nd and 11, 2nd and 10, 2nd and 9. That's tough for any Qb to overcome; especially one with Garoppolo's limitations. I wish Garoppolo well and look forward to seeing what he can do with a real head coach like Tomlin or Arians.

I personally don't think we need to look for a scapegoat in every loss. The Rams are a more talented team and collectively they executed better than the 9ers did. Their defense came to play with a chip on their shoulder and closed a lot of gaps they had left open in previous games. You gotta hand it to them.

I wouldn't call Shanahan and Ryans "pathetic". Didn't get the job done today, but "pathetic" is an adjective I'd reserve for real losers. Those guys aren't losers, imo. Their gameplans were very similar to what got us to 6-0 against the Rams. Sometimes, you just get beat. This team performed better than I thought they would. Lots to be proud of and encouraged by.

 

[Battlelyon]

I will say this. The better team won last night, they deserved it.

Thank you, now back to being hateful

 

[Montalban]

I personally don't think we need to look for a scapegoat in every loss. The Rams are a more talented team and collectively they executed better than the 9ers did. Their defense came to play with a chip on their shoulder and closed a lot of gaps they had left open in previous games. You gotta hand it to them.

I wouldn't call Shanahan and Ryans "pathetic". Didn't get the job done today, but "pathetic" is an adjective I'd reserve for real losers. Those guys aren't losers, imo. Their gameplans were very similar to what got us to 6-0 against the Rams. Sometimes, you just get beat. This team performed better than I thought they would. Lots to be proud of and encouraged by.

I agree with the bolded and I am specifically referring to this game as their performance being pathetic. They've done well in other games but neither having an answer or even an alternative for the offensive and defensive failures last night is inexcusable. There were no in game adjustments made on either side, at least not that my untrained eye could see.
There needed to be adjustments on what they were doing on first down and there needed to be a lot more attention paid to Kupp. he was directly responsible for every point they scored but nothing was done

The most glaring difference in the philosophy of the two teams was what happened on their 4th down opportunity in the opponents territory, even thougn the Rams failed, they tried to win the game. The 49ers with Shanahan was afraid of losing it. The aggressive attitude that is required in today's game is just not there. I can't think of another coach in the league who would not have gone for that. With the punt, they only gained 17 yards of field position and the Rams went right down and scored.

I look forward to seeing what happens next year with the new QB but I don't expect Shanahan's philosophy to change so I'm not hopeful

 

[Dean_Youngblood]

I agree with the bolded and I am specifically referring to this game as their performance being pathetic. They've done well in other games but neither having an answer or even an alternative for the offensive and defensive failures last night is inexcusable. There were no in game adjustments made on either side, at least not that my untrained eye could see.
There needed to be adjustments on what they were doing on first down and there needed to be a lot more attention paid to Kupp. he was directly responsible for every point they scored but nothing was done

The most glaring difference in the philosophy of the two teams was what happened on their 4th down opportunity in the opponents territory, even thougn the Rams failed, they tried to win the game. The 49ers with Shanahan was afraid of losing it. The aggressive attitude that is required in today's game is just not there. I can't think of another coach in the league who would not have gone for that. With the punt, they only gained 17 yards of field position and the Rams went right down and scored.

I look forward to seeing what happens next year with the new QB but I don't expect Shanahan's philosophy to change so I'm not hopeful

I'm not gonna say there isn't anything to critique, but when Shanahan has solid QB play, his teams get deep into the playoffs. I get that you don't like him or his philosophy. But if you zoom-out and look around the league, I think you'd see that we have it better than most teams. Kyle is still relatively young as a HC. The overall body of his work is encouraging, imo. This year, I think he showed a lot... getting this team to the POs and beating two division leaders on the road (including the #1 seed) says a lot about him as a coach in this league. Even when we've only won 5 games in a year that he's coached, we've always been a "tough out". His players are consistently bought-in and they play hard for him. Is he perfect? Hell no! He makes mistakes. But he is a winner relative to most coaches in the league.

It's just hard for me to process adjectives like "pathetic" and "inexcusable" when the best of the best in this league make mistakes from time to time. Not sure if you mean for it to sound as harsh as it does, but you make it sound like being a HC in the NFL is easy. There are 11 individual battles that happen on every play that the coach has little impact on once the ball is hiked.

 

[Kinzu]

Stafford will get the Lion's share of the praise for winning the game, but anyone who watched it knows Cooper Kupp pretty much beat the 49ers by himself. The rest of the offense only existed to distract and get Kupp the ball. All the talk of how good Ryans has been, but this game showed he's still a first year playcaller. He was unable to make any adjustments to take Kupp out of the game, and every 3rd down play the Rams needed was pretty much made by Kupp.

I can't complain to much on our offense. It is what it is really. Jimmy's throws are very limited with the injury so we needed to establish a running game. The Rams defense for a change just wanted it more than our offensive line. The gaps were just not there all game which created to many 2nd/3rd and longs. Our offense only hums along when we can pick up yards running while getting Jimmy to hit the passes needed to extend drives. We couldn't get anything going with the run which put to much on Jimmy to make perfect throws in obvious passing downs.

You can't fault Shanahan for punting on 4th and 2 with the lead. The offense was not exactly playing well and handing the Rams the ball there would have nearly guaranteed a game tying FG. It was the right call, but then Tartt happened. Tartt makes the pick and we pick up 1 or 2 first downs before a FG to go up 6, and maybe we're in the Super Bowl. The Rams were good enough to quickly drive into TD range, but their coaches desperate challenges and wasted timeouts would have put them under a tremendous amount of pressure down. Fortunately for McVay he doesn't have to deal with anyone pointing out how terrible he was in the game because Tartt did drop that Int and saved his team the agony of having to overcome him.

 

[deep9er]

I would like to wish you luck in the Super Bowl but I just cannot do it. As a 49er fan, I've been hating the Rams for over 50 years. I'm sure you understand.

Over 50 years?! You're damn old aren't you?

Well same here, i have hated the Rams for about 55 years! haaaaaa

 

[Montalban]

I'm not gonna say there isn't anything to critique, but when Shanahan has solid QB play, his teams get deep into the playoffs. I get that you don't like him or his philosophy. But if you zoom-out and look around the league, I think you'd see that we have it better than most teams. Kyle is still relatively young as a HC. The overall body of his work is encouraging, imo. This year, I think he showed a lot... getting this team to the POs and beating two division leaders on the road (including the #1 seed) says a lot about him as a coach in this league. Even when we've only won 5 games in a year that he's coached, we've always been a "tough out". His players are consistently bought-in and they play hard for him. Is he perfect? Hell no! He makes mistakes. But he is a winner relative to most coaches in the league.

It's just hard for me to process adjectives like "pathetic" and "inexcusable" when the best of the best in this league make mistakes from time to time. Not sure if you mean for it to sound as harsh as it does, but you make it sound like being a HC in the NFL is easy. There are 11 individual battles that happen on every play that the coach has little impact on once the ball is hiked.

They are a tough out I'll give him that and I admit I am very tough on highly paid professionals who get paid millions to do a job and don't do it as well as I think they should.
It never seems like we have a complete game. We were very fortunate against LA in week 18 and against the Cowboys and Packers in the playoffs. It just seems the team struggles to have an identity from game to game. We run well one game and we don't the next. We play good D one game and then we don't. Kittle disappears for three games at a time after dominating for three games. Aiyuk is not even used until the second half of the season. Our second and third round draft choices don't even dress for the games. That's unheard of.

That impossible-to-drop interception that Tarrt somehow managed to drop was symbolic of our entire season in my opinion. The whole thing was chaos from the very first drive in Detroit. Remember Garoppolo took them right down to the 2 yard line and then suprisingly to Garoppolo in comes Lance. They messed around with how to use Lance, flip flopping all over the place to the point where he wasn't even seeing the field. It seemed like there was no coherent plan for how to use him at all. It hindered his development and the efectiveness of the team. Then on his second run of the season, the key to the running game, Mostert, goes down for the count. Then Verrett goes down for the count in the 2nd quarter and there goes the key to the pass defense. It was chaos and got so bad to where they lost 5 out of 6 games before finally righting the ship.
I just think the team needs better leadership and a solid plan instead of the seat-of-the-pants stuff they relied on to get into the post season. I am however very pleased with how they stood up this season and didn't quit. It was a lot of fun

 

[Montalban]

Over 50 years?! You're damn old aren't you?

Well same here, i have hated the Rams for about 55 years! haaaaaa

Yes. I started watching the 49ers in 1967

 

[Montalban]

Stafford will get the Lion's share of the praise for winning the game, but anyone who watched it knows Cooper Kupp pretty much beat the 49ers by himself. The rest of the offense only existed to distract and get Kupp the ball. All the talk of how good Ryans has been, but this game showed he's still a first year playcaller. He was unable to make any adjustments to take Kupp out of the game, and every 3rd down play the Rams needed was pretty much made by Kupp.

I can't complain to much on our offense. It is what it is really. Jimmy's throws are very limited with the injury so we needed to establish a running game. The Rams defense for a change just wanted it more than our offensive line. The gaps were just not there all game which created to many 2nd/3rd and longs. Our offense only hums along when we can pick up yards running while getting Jimmy to hit the passes needed to extend drives. We couldn't get anything going with the run which put to much on Jimmy to make perfect throws in obvious passing downs.

You can't fault Shanahan for punting on 4th and 2 with the lead. The offense was not exactly playing well and handing the Rams the ball there would have nearly guaranteed a game tying FG. It was the right call, but then Tartt happened. Tartt makes the pick and we pick up 1 or 2 first downs before a FG to go up 6, and maybe we're in the Super Bowl. The Rams were good enough to quickly drive into TD range, but their coaches desperate challenges and wasted timeouts would have put them under a tremendous amount of pressure down. Fortunately for McVay he doesn't have to deal with anyone pointing out how terrible he was in the game because Tartt did drop that Int and saved his team the agony of having to overcome him.

Stafford would have lost it for the Rams had Tartt not dropped that impossible to drop INT in the 4th quarter

 

[deep9er]

I already know i will agree with most of your opinions, so not going to read this thread. We had a fantastic season and getting to this game was very VERY good. Way back at 3-5 we weren't even sure about play-offs?! Imagine if we lost to the Rams in week 18? I would rather prefer to beat Dallas and Green Bay, so there!

My overall opinion of this game is the NFL is a QB driven league, and when you get to this game and the SB, you need SOLID QB play. While he didn't have a horrible game, he didn't play efficiently enough. This game yet again showed off JG's poor arm talent outside the lines and further than 10 yards downfield. We can win this level of the play-offs only IF he's REALLY sharp in the middle, but alas he wasn't. No doubt there were many other things that we can blame but when looking at the big picture, quality QB performance was required.

It is easy to point at Shanahan and his play calling, but if the QB can't throw it outside nor downfield, is it smart to call it? If your pass protect cannot hold up for 3 seconds, do you call a long pass play? We KNEW the Rams were going to sell out and stop the run, but we couldn't take advantage throwing it over the LB's

We needed a mistake free game and we didn't get it. We even got taunting and targetting penalties, and got away with a few more.

 

[Sandisfan]

Yes. I started watching the 49ers in 1967

I still think QB John Brodie had his team not give up that onsides kick late against the Plowgirls in the Championship game and had won the Superbowl he might well have been a HOF he was close as it is and TE Ted Kwalic wasn't far off either had he been in a higher profile team he might also have been a HOFer.

P.S. Stats during this time with CBs getting away with murder don't give full credit to QBs of that era.

 

[Montalban]

I still think QB John Brodie had his team not give up that onsides kick late against the Plowgirls in the Championship game and had won the Superbowl he might well have been a HOF he was close as it is and TE Ted Kwalic wasn't far off either had he been in a higher profile team he might also have been a HOFer.

P.S. Stats during this time with CBs getting away with murder don't give full credit to QBs of that era.

Kwalick and Gene Washington came in together as first rounders and, along with Bruce Taylor, turned the Niners into a playoff team.
I still have scars from Preston Riley fumbling that onside kick, costing the Niners that game.

 

[Montalban]

I still think QB John Brodie had his team not give up that onsides kick late against the Plowgirls in the Championship game and had won the Superbowl he might well have been a HOF he was close as it is and TE Ted Kwalic wasn't far off either had he been in a higher profile team he might also have been a HOFer.

P.S. Stats during this time with CBs getting away with murder don't give full credit to QBs of that era.

I still remember a video of Cliff Branch of the Raiders running a long sideline pattern against the Steelers and Mel Blount just beating the crap out of him all the way down the field while covering him with no flag being thrown. It looked like Ali-Frazier.