Sooo what the hell was with the deffense last night ? ?

[BloodType49]

Seemed like we had absolutely no answer for White.

Pass Rush was almost non-existent.

Matt Ryan was sitting in the pocket all day picking us apart.

Run D was ok at best.

Reid had his worst game of the year.

Was it a fluke night with the Falcons just playing like a well oiled machine or is this reason for concern going into the Playoff's

 

[TobyTyler]

Seemed like we had absolutely no answer for White.

Pass Rush was almost non-existent.

Matt Ryan was sitting in the pocket all day picking us apart.

Run D was ok at best.

Reid had his worst game of the year.

Was it a fluke night with the Falcons just playing like a well oiled machine or is this reason for concern going into the Playoff's

That is the key right there. You cannot be successful in today's NFL without one. Not only were they not sacking Ryan, they weren't even making any progress toward him in the backfield. They were completely stymied at the line of scrimmage. And against one of the worst O lines in the business.

 

[Breaker99]

I wonder if we would even be talking about this if Whitner didn't get called for that bullshit penalty and we got that turnover. In my opinion, that was the spark for them, and a huge momentum changer. Which is what makes that call so freaking bad.

 

[TobyTyler]

I wonder if we would even be talking about this if Whitner didn't get called for that bullshit penalty and we got that turnover. In my opinion, that was the spark for them, and a huge momentum changer. Which is what makes that call so freaking bad.

I thought the silent killer was on 4th and 2 after Willis had blown up Jackson and the Falcons looked to be running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to find a play for 4th down, the 49ers had to call a timeout because Willis' helmet came off. That gave Atlanta the time they needed to come up with a play. I think the 49ers would have stopped them without that timeout.

 

[TobyTyler]

I wonder if we would even be talking about this if Whitner didn't get called for that bullshit penalty and we got that turnover. In my opinion, that was the spark for them, and a huge momentum changer. Which is what makes that call so freaking bad.

That was one of the worst calls I've ever seen. But didn't you just know it was coming? It was such a monster hit and that coupled with Whitner's rep for dirty hits made it a certain call in my mind.

 

[Crimsoncrew]

I didn't see all the game, but I think the combination of playing a relatively soft zone and not getting much pressure just killed us. Against a WCO, that soft zone just gave them all sorts of open spots to throw into. That was a game that was begging for man-coverage, with a safety on top of White.

Re: Whitner, the guy has been getting abused by officials all year. He's had at least three shoulder-to-body hits that have been called. How is he supposed to hit them?

 

[TobyTyler]

I didn't see all the game, but I think the combination of playing a relatively soft zone and not getting much pressure just killed us. Against a WCO, that soft zone just gave them all sorts of open spots to throw into. That was a game that was begging for man-coverage, with a safety on top of White.

Re: Whitner, the guy has been getting abused by officials all year. He's had at least three shoulder-to-body hits that have been called. How is he supposed to hit them?

I laughed out loud after we were rejoicing at the end because I remembered you said you had to go out to dinner with your in laws. I was thinking "Crimson missed this for that?" I felt bad for you. But you did get to see the game after all?

 

[Crimsoncrew]

I laughed out loud after we were rejoicing at the end because I remembered you said you had to go out to dinner with your in laws. I was thinking "Crimson missed this for that?" I felt bad for you. But you did get to see the game after all?

I watched the first and fourth quarters, basically, at the bar across the street from the restaurant. And was kind of freaking out at the end.

 

[Jikkle]

I would chalk it up to a bad day at the office.

Also they only scored 24 points so it's not like the hung 35+ on us. So it wasn't that terrible of a game by any means.

The only larger concern is the pass rush.

If I do have one big gripe against Fangio is he puts too much reliance in the physical talent of the defense and keeps things too vanilla.

It doesn't matter how skilled and well trained your army is because they will always be at a disadvantage if the enemy knows what they are going to do.

If all we do a vast majority of the time is rush just our down linemen while throwing in some stunts an offense is going to know what to expect and they are going to prepare and scheme for which adds on to the disadvantage of already losing when it comes to numbers as well.

Like I've said about our offense needing to throw different things at a defense to keep them off balance a defense needs to throw some different things at an offense to keep them guessing and off balance as well.

 

[SunsGiantsNiners]

Bottom line is the niners won the game. No it wasn't pretty but who the fuck cares they found a way to win so let's enjoy it.

 

[TobyTyler]

I watched the first and fourth quarters, basically, at the bar across the street from the restaurant. And was kind of freaking out at the end.

Ha ha! Imagine what I was doing. I'm glad you got to see the best part. As for your comment about Whitner, maybe he needs to quit drawing attention to himself with this "Hitner" nonsense.

 

[TobyTyler]

I would chalk it up to a bad day at the office.

Also they only scored 24 points so it's not like the hung 35+ on us. So it wasn't that terrible of a game by any means.

The only larger concern is the pass rush.

If I do have one big gripe against Fangio is he puts too much reliance in the physical talent of the defense and keeps things too vanilla.

It doesn't matter how skilled and well trained your army is because they will always be at a disadvantage if the enemy knows what they are going to do.

If all we do a vast majority of the time is rush just our down linemen while throwing in some stunts an offense is going to know what to expect and they are going to prepare and scheme for which adds on to the disadvantage of already losing when it comes to numbers as well.

Like I've said about our offense needing to throw different things at a defense to keep them off balance a defense needs to throw some different things at an offense to keep them guessing and off balance as well.

That is exactly right in my opinion. Roman does the same thing. They never try to scheme somebody open through formational adjustments, it seems they just line up and say "OK, go beat your man". Its very frustrating. It stems from that Harbaugh attitude where he said "We are the 49ers, we can do whatever we want". That is a very dangerous sort of arrogance.

 

[Chamoanlad]

Seemed like we had absolutely no answer for White.

Pass Rush was almost non-existent.

Matt Ryan was sitting in the pocket all day picking us apart.

Run D was ok at best.

Reid had his worst game of the year.

Was it a fluke night with the Falcons just playing like a well oiled machine or is this reason for concern going into the Playoff's

There's some cause for concern. Gruden showed it on replays alot where the Falcon receivers would chip our DE's and OLB's to force them inside where the Oline was waiting. In the first half Aldon was getting by his guy, but the quick passes from Matt Ryan neutralized him. The LT also chopped him a couple times in the 2nd half when they were one on one. Plus with 49ers in zone alot we played right into the Falcons strengths.

We needed to play more man or at least do zone blitzes, but I saw a stat somewhere that said we only blitzed like 10% of the time yesterday and only about 19% for the season. A season league low I believe. The big problem with playing man is Rogers is liable to get burned deep and Whitner is no one's idea of a cover guy so Fangio has us play zone a lot and then rushes 3 or 4. It works fine when there's pressure, but when there isn't its gonna be a long day. Fangio relies way too much on the front 4 to make his defense work and needs to get more creative with the zone blitz. He's way too predictable.

 

[TobyTyler]

Bottom line is the niners won the game. No it wasn't pretty but who the fuck cares they found a way to win so let's enjoy it.

True. But this passivity in the pass rush really worries me against the quality teams we might face in the post season.

 

[Crimsoncrew]

Ha ha! Imagine what I was doing. I'm glad you got to see the best part. As for your comment about Whitner, maybe he needs to quit drawing attention to himself with this "Hitner" nonsense.

To be fair, he only started that talk after two pretty dubious penalties.

 

[TobyTyler]

To be fair, he only started that talk after two pretty dubious penalties.

They certainly seem to be watching him. I think he's going to have to change his approach because I don't think the NFL is going to change theirs. I hate to see another guy have to resort to ruining someone's knees in order to make a tackle without being penalized.

What really irks me about this is I believe the NFL doesn't give a shit about its players, they are only concerned with lawsuits brought by players with brain injuries.

 

[Crimsoncrew]

They certainly seem to be watching him. I think he's going to have to change his approach because I don't think the NFL is going to change theirs. I hate to see another guy have to resort to ruining someone's knees in order to make a tackle without being penalized.

What really irks me about this is I believe the NFL doesn't give a shit about its players, they are only concerned with lawsuits brought by players with brain injuries.

I definitely agree re: the league's priorities. It's frustrating with Whitner because his hits are good ones. I think the league needs to figure out a challenge system for illegal hits. If the officials can't tell what's legal and what's not in real-time, then they need to figure out a way to slow it down for them.

 

[purguy12]

They lay an egg every now and then. Just like the super Bowl.

 

[purguy12]

U can't hit anymore, u have to wrap a big hit just like Willis did. He didn't get called for a flag because he wrapped Jackson while giving a big hit.

 

[TobyTyler]

I definitely agree re: the league's priorities. It's frustrating with Whitner because his hits are good ones. I think the league needs to figure out a challenge system for illegal hits. If the officials can't tell what's legal and what's not in real-time, then they need to figure out a way to slow it down for them.

That's a good idea; one I hadn't heard before.