The 49ers achillies heel

[iHATEdodgers]

If you're referring to the running dept, then I'd agree. However, in regards to the passing dept, eh. Alex Smith is getting sacked quite a bit this season and he was sacked quite a bit last season. Granted, some of those sacks are self inflicted (holding onto the ball too long and freaking out since he doesn't check off his options very well), but still. It just seems that in crucial plays where the 49ers need to complete a pass, they just can't put it together with the game on the line. Last week, they pulled it off against Detroit but you're not going to face a team where 3/4 of its secondary will be out of the game week in, week out.

I don't know man, I mean they are 15-4 or 16-5 since last year... With plenty of 4Q comebacks, I think that speaks for itself as far as pass protection. I agree that the sacks have been somewhat of an issue though... But overall the OL play seems better to me, maybe I'm basing that off of the dark years when we were giving up 4 or 5 sacks a game and Alex or whoever were getting hammered every other pass on their 7 step drops.

Evidently as a team they aren't too concerned about sacks, as Roman I think said recently. Basically they are 1 a game above average (by above avg i mean below avg). I think you can maybe blame that on their philosophy and Alex's decision making.

I wonder how they are in relation to the rest of the league on hurries knockdowns etc...

 

[Flyingiguana]

our offensive line is built to run the ball. we need to pound the ball, then when we're done pound it some more. did hunter even have a rushing attempt in the 1st half?

 

[supreme_clientele81]

Evidently as a team they aren't too concerned about sacks, as Roman I think said recently. Basically they are 1 a game above average (by above avg i mean below avg). I think you can maybe blame that on their philosophy and Alex's decision making.

I wonder how they are in relation to the rest of the league on hurries knockdowns etc...

Also both Alex and Roman said they would rather take a sack then turn the ball over

 

[iHATEdodgers]

our offensive line is built to run the ball. we need to pound the ball, then when we're done pound it some more. did hunter even have a rushing attempt in the 1st half?

I think so but he didn't get anywhere? But yes they should probably run more than they did yesterday. But really they sucked yesterday. I think the gameplan they had could work on another day when they are more focused and execute better on both sides of the ball. I chalk this up to one time suckage.

 

[CalamityX11]

I agree Cal, our defense will be fine. About zman's thoughts, I wonder about our passing game. We don't have a number 1 wideout, but with Crabs, Manningham, a serviceable Moss, and with VD, I'd like for us to give it our best shot throwing out deep more, even with Alex's inaccuracies going down field.

Also, 3 sacks yesterday? Isn't this a recurring theme with Alex getting sacked a bunch like he was last year? I know people were saying we had a top notch OL, but I don't agree considering against the pass since our O Line has given up 10 sacks this season, 5th most in the league.

I, personally, am not to "fed up" with the OL/Alex giving up 3 sacks. That's .75 sack per qtr.... but what really highlights those sacks is the fact we can't move the ball and/or score on the next possesion/drives etc.... if we were doing that fine, the sacks wouldn't be an issue IMO.

I think our OL is very good, pending on the pass rush scheme, they can handle it but Alex needs to make the hot reads and go executive decision on his throws.

 

[CalamityX11]

He also is playing more snaps this season and plus he's not sneaking up on anybody as teams are devising schemes to better defend against him. You shut him out of the backfield, you're essentially preventing us from getting sacks as evidenced thus far this season.

Yeah, the additional snaps plus the no more under the radar approach is most likely killing those #s. In time he'll be fine. I don't mind not seeing the playoff pass rush of last yr in the regular season so long as we get that playoff pass rush again this playoffs and more.

 

[clyde_carbon]

If you're referring to the running dept, then I'd agree. However, in regards to the passing dept, eh. Alex Smith is getting sacked quite a bit this season and he was sacked quite a bit last season. Granted, some of those sacks are self inflicted (holding onto the ball too long and freaking out since he doesn't check off his options very well), but still. It just seems that in crucial plays where the 49ers need to complete a pass, they just can't put it together with the game on the line. Last week, they pulled it off against Detroit but you're not going to face a team where 3/4 of its secondary will be out of the game week in, week out.

So that sack when Alex rolled to the right and just stood there waiting for Greeneay to blast him - is that on the OL?

 

[deep9er]

Agreed with the OP. We took care of business with AP, but other guys stepped up and made plays on us. Harvin was a killer.

This seems to be the weak link in the Harbaugh method. He is very old school, go big, go tough, dominate physically with muscle. Speed can counter-act that.

I am very disappointed that we have not changed our passing game. We added Moss, Mario, and Jenkins and it still looks like we have Ginn and Morgan out there. Nothing dynamic at all. Against the Saints, we showed that we can do it to some degree when forced to, but we seem content to throw the 3 to 11 yard pass and nothing more. But that requires error free ball and playing while ahead. Which we did not do yesterday. Seems to me that way more often than not, when forced to open up the passing game, we have looked pretty good.

this is more my feeling too, the offense just didn't come thru. red zone woes continued in this game. i'm NOT advocating we become a downfield passing offense, but they didn't execute enough key passes.

Alex Smith didn't play so horribly, but he didn't hit some key passes. in particular, two passes to Moss that would've been huge early on. the first was the TD that sailed HIGH, and the second was the pass that went off his fingers.

 

[deep9er]

all defenses has weaknesses simply because you can't have Pro Bowlers in each spot. i'm glad we have less weaknesses than most NFL teams. we basically held their run game and thats a bigger factor than swing passes to a WR.

but if the opponents offense is playing well, your defense can't stop it. Ponder was making enough plays to sustain long drives.

 

[Ray_Dogg]

We were oh so close on sacks throughout the game. My hat is off to Ponder. He played the best he could play and he was outstanding at avoiding the rush.

 

[Geraint]

It will change because they want it to be champions. But right now we've got to figure out the formula, our formula. Our formula is this: We go out, we hit people in the mouth, No. 1.

 

[clyde_carbon]

It will change because they want it to be champions. But right now we've got to figure out the formula, our formula. Our formula is this: We go out, we hit people in the mouth, No. 1.

We passed more than twice we ran.

 

[deep9er]

We passed more than twice we ran.

and i was ok with it starting the game, Alex was playing well last two games, plus we were throwing high percentage passes. just that too bad Alex didn't hit the key passes to Moss 'early'.

they held against Jared Allen ok, but a few blitzes came right in.

 

[MHSL82]

We were oh so close on sacks throughout the game. My hat is off to Ponder. He played the best he could play and he was outstanding at avoiding the rush.

I'm confused. Aren't teams who lose obligated to say that they beat themselves? I've been reading all over and haven't found anyone from the Niners saying that. Get with the times! We played poorly therefore it was nothing to do with 'them'! Just kidding.

I'm glad we seem to be taking the right attitude. Everyone is deflecting questions suggesting we weren't ready, tired, no energy, etc. All of those would be a variation of "we beat ourselves." We gave them credit and said that we need to do better. (One could exaggerate to say that saying we didn't execute as saying we beat ourselves, but that, to me, would be a stretch. It's just the truth.) We did, however, say that Minnesota was gunning for us, so I suppose that suggests that the Vikings aren't as good, but we know that, right?

Though I didn't think we'd lose this game (I thought the Jets would be the letdown), I did think we got too high. But we handled it before and after a bit better than some.

 

[49ermann]

Besides the second possession of the 3rd quarter I wasn't impressed with our play calling. The offense was successful on that drive with a good balance of run and pass plays. Alex was also accurate on that drive when compared with the rest of the game.

They called plays in which Alex rolled to the right way too often in the first half. Rolling out only gives the QB half of the option he would have instead of throwing from the pocket. This game was just a bad performance from the coaching staff and the players as well.

 

[Crimsoncrew]

I was worried about Harvin going into the game. Mentioned it in the game thread just minutes before kickoff, I think. And he did hurt us. I don't know how we constantly lose track of the back out of the backfield. On the second TD pass to Rudolph, AD was WIDE open. It's a major problem, and something we have to do a better job of. And guys with Harvin's speed and quickness tend to give us fits.

Re: the offense, it's tough to say if it's Smith or Harbaugh/Roman, but we've got a big-play problem that is persisting.

At this point, I tend to think it's more on Smith than the staff. Smith played very well through the first two games, but if we fall behind, he still struggles to put the team on his shoulders and carry it - though in this case I don't think we needed to do that as the run game was effective and we weren't THAT far back. Smith was great in the 4th quarter against NO in the playoffs, but he was mediocre through the first three, and was generally bad in the Championship game. I'm still optimistic that he can continue to improve, and that we can compete with him where he is right now. But I think he still needs a strong running game to open up some of the shorter stuff in the passing game to be truly effective.

 

[TobyTyler]

As good as this defense is, it has one fatal flaw. They sell out to stop the run, and then get exploited on these swing passes to burners. Burners like Cobb and Harvin.

The Packers dialed into this with Cobb, and they finally got things moving on offense once they used him to pick up yards out of the backfield. Chipping away down the field without an answer by the 49ers, they eventually got a TD on that drive after the BS pass interference, not important though, those little dumps to Cobb out of the backfield were the backbone of the scoring drive.

The Lions tried to emulate a little, but lacked the personnel. So they just went back to Megatron, no problem for the 49ers defense because they were all about shutting down Megatron.

The Vikings used this weakness today. How many times did they hit Harvin on that swing pass, fake reverse? 2 or 3 times? Either way, it was a 100% success rate for them. When they lined Harvin up in the backfield, the little dumps to him always went for positive gains.

This is a big weakness

Reminds me of that Chiefs game in 2010. We were disgusted in the fact that the Chiefs defenders laughed about how they called offensive plays, adjusted to the offenses audibles... right? Yeah, Jimmy Raye sucks... but don't forget that Dexter McCluster had 3 catches for 69 yards and a TD, Jaamal Charles had 3 catches for 57 yards that game. This team sells out to stop the run, and it gets killed by those burners out of the backfield.

The 49ers defensive weakness was exposed in 2010 by the Chiefs, the Packers and Vikings have gone back to that and they've shown it is still there. The 49ers have to adjust, I think they can sell out to the run still.. just designate Willis or Bowman to spy those burners out of the backfield.

No pass rush and soft coverage is a dangerous combination,

 

[MHSL82]

I was worried about Harvin going into the game. Mentioned it in the game thread just minutes before kickoff, I think. And he did hurt us....

That's it, this game is no longer on Deep9er; I now blame you.

 

[TobyTyler]

I think the defense will be fine. I'm not as high on Goldson as a lot of people on this board are, and I'd definitely look to replace him in this draft, but the defense (and the team) as a whole just didn't play with the intensity the played with the last two games. I don't think we'll see that again this this year.

I'm surprised we even saw it once. Although this had all the earmarks of a trap game I did not think Harbaugh would allow them to come out unprepared to play.