Some observations from the coaches film

[threelittleturds]

Watching that missed TD pass to Randy Moss. Alex definitely missed it, maybe Randy cut it too short or pulled up a little, but Smith missed it. It also might have something to do with the pressure that shouldn't have happened if Boone stuck with his block.

Now, Ive seen Boone do this a few times this year, I'm not really sure why he is passing on rushers to Goodwin after he has engaged the block. But 97 hit Smith at the end of the throw and it might have caused it go high. I guess this answers why 4 man rushes continue to put pressure on Smith, because they pass on rushers to nobody even after they engage them.

The very next play, Smith missed a wide-open Gore in the flat that could have easily gone for a 1st down or maybe a TD when the Vikings focused on VD which I circled. The only real complaint is that Smith was so locked in on getting it to Crabtree that he missed a better opportunity to Frank.

I will post some more, just that I'm limited to 4 pictures per post. One thing I noticed though is that the Vikings played a lot of two deep safety, cover 2 I believe but not certain. So, for those of us upset about the lack of deep passes. Well, the passes simply weren't there unless Smith tried to squeeze it in to double coverage... do any of us trust Alex to do that?

 

[threelittleturds]

Here is a shot of Manningham beating his guy on the sideline, now it would have been a tight throw since the safety was deep in the middle... In the end it doesn't really matter because the little dump to Crabtree in the middle went for a first down anyway. By the way, you can see the 2 deep safety scheme that the Vikings used a lot of.

The next two pictures are really going to make some people angry, its the play before the blocked FG at the end of the 2nd quarter. Manningham again beat his guy after the Vikings did a coverage shift where the SS went down to the middle of the field underneath and the FS ran deep to the middle. Either way, Smith missed a great chance to put it up to Manningham and let him make a play for a TD.

As you can see from the 2nd picture, it would have just been Manningham and the CB in the endzone. Total missed opportunity. Smith was just so locked in on Walker underneath that he probably didn't even see Manningham get behind the secondary.

I'm going to go watch the 2nd half now.

 

[MHSL82]

I know you're not done, but REP! Objective criticisms on what Smith lacked in the Minnesota game and objective perspective into why certain plays were not Smith's fault. Film will only help get so far, but it helps. We need film, chemistry, the green light, and guts to throw the ball (trust in his arm and the receivers). It seems the plays are being called well, as those points in the game were important. (Any TD play would have been - except on the VD TD, a previously missed opportunity was moot except as to time of possession or energy of the offense/defense.)

 

[threelittleturds]

The 3rd Qtr should have belonged to Michael Crabtree

After Kyle Williams KR, that 3rd down roll out to the right where Smith kept it, he missed a wideopen Crabtree in the endzone for what should have been an easy TD lob. I can't understand why he kept it and ran, there was nobody to stop that pass to Crabs for a TD.

These other pictures don't really matter since it was on the TD drive to Vernon Davis, but I'm going to put them up to show Smith missed 2 TDs to Crabtree on that drive. One on the 17 yard pass to Manningham underneath, and the other on the lob to VD that put them on the goal line. Both times, Crabtree got behind the defense. Sorry that it is kind of blurry, but the 3 black arrows are the Vikings and the Red arrow is Crabtree, you can see in the next one where he was and how he had a few steps on his guy, it is a little clearer. Crabtree did an awesome stutter step on that play to get behind the defense.

With this last one, the lob to VD worked out just as well, but I just wanted to put it up to show Crabs juked the hell out of his guy and could have walked in for a TD if Smith didn't already make the throw to VD.

 

[Geraint]

Did Sing teach you how to watch film too?

 

[CalamityX11]

i feel pain....

 

[MHSL82]

This gives me hope because the receivers are getting open and the plays are being called. Come on, Alex. I expect him to get better, but know he has his limitations. All QBs miss, but this is a bit more. Hopefully the gap will be closed (though I don't know how much other QBs miss).

 

[bvanthielriceyoung]

wow, nice posts.

Smith does miss guys a lot. I brought it up after the 1st game against the Packers because I went to the game and saw a lot of open guys that Smith wasnt hitting. When I got home I was surprised just how good Smiths stats were even though all the missed opportunities. Its crazy to think just how good of a day stats wise that could have been.

If(its a big if) Smith can start seeing some of these open guys down field, this offense could really start clicking. There is a ton of potential left on the field.

 

[threelittleturds]

Nothing really out of the ordinary in the 4th qtr. This first picture, they switched from the 2 deep safeties to 1 center safety again, like that play in the 3rd QTR where Alex lobbed it to VD to the goal line. Smith made a quick decision to get it out to Manningham short but if he just waited a little longer Crabtree would have given him a huge gain since he beat his man coverage and only had that single deep safety to beat.

The next picture I just took to show how Minnesota ran a lot of 2 deep safety coverages, even more so in the 4th of course. You can see the 49ers had a 4 WR set with Crabtree, Manningham, Williams and VD lined up as WRs the Vikings manned them up and still had the 2 deep safeties hanging out.

This last picture is the one before the INT. The CB gave Moss a 5 yard cushion and was just looking into the backfield, as soon as Smith dumped it to VD he made a break for VD and slipped while doing it. Just again, wanted to put something up that showed why they weren't taking shots down the field.

As for the INT, all on Smith and you can rest easy knowing that he didn't miss anybody open on that throw. They were still running that 4 deep shell defense and Smith just completely missed Crabtree. Same goes for the sack and fumble later on, Smith didn't miss anything on that either.

 

[threelittleturds]

Did Sing teach you how to watch film too?

I should have put up a disclaimer.

Pure armchair amateur film studier guy.

 

[clyde_carbon]

Alex missed him. I don't know why some people are trying to place the blame on the OL or Randy Moss on that one.

 

[threelittleturds]

Alex missed him. I don't know why some people are trying to place the blame on the OL or Randy Moss on that one.

Well, I did say Alex definitely missed him. I just wanted to show he was under pressure, to possibly shed light on why he missed him.

 

[clyde_carbon]

Pressure or not, Alex had enough room to make that throw. At least give Moss a chance to make a play for it - it didn't have to be perfect.

 

[threelittleturds]

The miss to Moss sucked, I just recognize that Smith can't make good throws under pressure and that's why I think he missed it. It isn't an excuse for Alex, its just I feel he isn't good enough to make that pass under pressure.

The missed opportunities to Manningham because he was locked in on Crabtree and Walker are more annoying. Especially that one before the blocked FG. That is the kind of play we're all screaming for, when the WR gets position on the CB to where Smith can throw it into the endzone where either Manningham makes the play for a TD catch or the CB makes a great deflection. That annoys me that Smith went for the checkdown to Walker for the safe play instead of taking a shot at the endzone when he had it.

The missed chances to Crabtree are equally shitty. They never should have settled for that FG after Kyle's 90 yard kickoff return. It was Crabtree and nothing but open field, with Smith rolling to the right and a clear view of how no Vikings were in position to stop a lob to the back corner of the endzone.

The missed opportunities to Crabtree on the drive where VD got the TD, not so bad in the little scheme of the game since they still got a TD. Just frustrating because Crabtree does get open, Smith just chose to go to Manningham for 17 instead of the quick strike possible big TD to Crabtree.

I feel kinda bad for getting on Crabtree's case, he seemed to get open a lot but Smith wouldn't pull the trigger or had already thrown it to someone else.

 

[clyde_carbon]

The miss to Moss sucked, I just recognize that Smith can't make good throws under pressure and that's why I think he missed it. It isn't an excuse for Alex, its just I feel he isn't good enough to make that pass under pressure.

The missed opportunities to Manningham because he was locked in on Crabtree and Walker are more annoying. Especially that one before the blocked FG. That is the kind of play we're all screaming for, when the WR gets position on the CB to where Smith can throw it into the endzone where either Manningham makes the play for a TD catch or the CB makes a great deflection. That annoys me that Smith went for the checkdown to Walker for the safe play instead of taking a shot at the endzone when he had it.

The missed chances to Crabtree are equally shitty. They never should have settled for that FG after Kyle's 90 yard kickoff return. It was Crabtree and nothing but open field, with Smith rolling to the right and a clear view of how no Vikings were in position to stop a lob to the back corner of the endzone.

The missed opportunities to Crabtree on the drive where VD got the TD, not so bad in the little scheme of the game since they still got a TD. Just frustrating because Crabtree does get open, Smith just chose to go to Manningham for 17 instead of the quick strike possible big TD to Crabtree.

I feel kinda bad for getting on Crabtree's case, he seemed to get open a lot but Smith wouldn't pull the trigger or had already thrown it to someone else.

It was pressure from the fact that there was a chance that Alex would've gotten hit real hard after the throw. But the 3rd picture you posted shows that Alex was cocked all the way back when the defender was a good 2 yards away from him.

But point taken.

 

[Flyingiguana]

This gives me hope because the receivers are getting open and the plays are being called. Come on, Alex. I expect him to get better, but know he has his limitations. All QBs miss, but this is a bit more. Hopefully the gap will be closed (though I don't know how much other QBs miss).

yup, good to see crabtree being able to get seperation. i'm expecting the offense to improve over the season.

 

[49ermann]

Great post! Most QBs will look to get rid of the ball quickly if they have been getting pressured throughout the game. For some reason Alex doesn't take any chances. He'd rather take the easy 6 yard pass instead of the 50/50 ball that could potential score a touchdown. No risk no reward. He only throws the 50/50 ball to VD. Hopefully he can develop that trust with the other receivers as the season progresses.

 

[Flyingiguana]

Great post! Most QBs will look to get rid of the ball quickly if they have been getting pressured throughout the game. For some reason Alex doesn't take any chances. He'd rather take the easy 6 yard pass instead of the 50/50 ball that could potential score a touchdown. No risk no reward. He only throws the 50/50 ball to VD. Hopefully he can develop that trust with the other receivers as the season progresses.

that's exactly what i'm hoping for as well.

 

[I_am_1z]

@PFF_Neil
Any idea which two QBs have a lower average depth of target than Christian Ponder's 5.8 yards?

ANSWER: Any idea which 2 QBs have a lower average depth of target than Christian Ponder's 5.8 yards? >> Kolb and Alex Smith

 

[deep9er]

Great post! Most QBs will look to get rid of the ball quickly if they have been getting pressured throughout the game. For some reason Alex doesn't take any chances. He'd rather take the easy 6 yard pass instead of the 50/50 ball that could potential score a touchdown. No risk no reward. He only throws the 50/50 ball to VD. Hopefully he can develop that trust with the other receivers as the season progresses.

to improve in this area, he just needs to hit Moss a little more. at least give Moss a chance to catch it.

it seems like he tends to over throw Moss?