Game Thread: Week 1: 49ers at Seahawks, 1:05PM PST

[MrS]

I'm surprised at all the Walker hate here.

Not sure what you guys were seeing. Walker had dudes meeting him in the backfield on almost every touch. Charbonnet at least had some holes to run through.

Honestly it reminded me a lot of what it used to look like when Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren were splitting carries. Teams seemed to stack the box on Harris and back down when Warren came in.

Charbonnet getting the goal line work and the slight majority of carries is still weird though IMO. Walker is first on the depth chart. I have to assume Walker is not 100%. And in any case the O-line just didn't perform as well as I was expecting them to.

Other obvious issues:

JSN with >50% target share is not sustainable.

The pass rush was weak, but I guess overall the D was okay outside of a few blown plays. Problem is those few blown plays were all it took.

walker missed several cuts that would have gone for big gains, he looks like he lost his edge.

 

[MrS]

This video does a good job describing woolens failures
Do not want him back next year

 

[HaroldSeattle]

This video does a good job describing woolens failures
Do not want him back next year

Yeah good breakdown. Why why why didn't they stick to what they said they were going to do (physical, aggressive, pound the rock) what they actually practiced hard at all camp according to those who were there to see it. Mostly the offense had a Grubb vibe to it, screen plays, trick plays. Only two play action passes (one to JSN for a big gain). Not what I was expecting at all and seemed very weird. Hopefully Seahawks correct this next game. Think Charbonnet takes over as lead back soon, he's earned it.

 

[Cave_Johnson]

walker missed several cuts that would have gone for big gains, he looks like he lost his edge.

I don't know that I even saw him get the opportunity to cut anything back more than 2 or 3 times. That's probably because had a full yard less before contact than Charbonnet did.

Totally possible Walker is still hurting or getting up to speed.

I think this is more of an o line and run scheme issue overall though. Neither back looked particularly good. Charbonnet definitely also missed some cutback lanes. He just had 2 yards before he got hit instead of 1 all game.

 

[MrS]

I'm seeing a lot of praise for Brock purdy but I'm not buying it. Two picks, a pretty terrible grounding penalty that was saved by a defensive hold.
If woolen picks off the gw td i think there's a lot of talk about niners overpaying him

 

[DJ "I'm blessed" Fieri]

 

[JMR]

I'm surprised at all the Walker hate here.

Not sure what you guys were seeing. Walker had dudes meeting him in the backfield on almost every touch. Charbonnet at least had some holes to run through.

We are seeing similar to what we saw all of last season and most of 2023: Walker is not as effective as Charbonnet. Were the holes there for Charbs more so than for Walker on Sunday? Maybe, but that sure seems to be the case quite a bit. Maybe Walker just doesn't anticipate or see the hole as well as Charbonnet? At some point we at least have to consider that as a possibility. Had Charbs gained 1 more total yard on Sunday, his avg per carry would have been exactly double of what Walker's was. At some point we have to acknowledge what is staring us right in the face. In my opinion, it's only getting harder for anyone to justify Walker remaining as RB1.

 

[Cave_Johnson]

We are seeing similar to what we saw all of last season and most of 2023: Walker is not as effective as Charbonnet. Were the holes there for Charbs more so than for Walker on Sunday? Maybe, but that sure seems to be the case quite a bit. Maybe Walker just doesn't anticipate or see the hole as well as Charbonnet? At some point we at least have to consider that as a possibility. Had Charbs gained 1 more total yard on Sunday, his avg per carry would have been exactly double of what Walker's was. At some point we have to acknowledge what is staring us right in the face. In my opinion, it's only getting harder for anyone to justify Walker remaining as RB1.

I'm really talking this game specifically.

I'm not some expert film watcher or anything so it's totally possible Walker is creating some of these issues for himself. It's also possible teams are playing the run more aggressively when Walker is in. I'd have to see evidence either way I guess.

But specifically on Sunday I've seen this number thrown around a few times now:

Walker at 0.3 yards before contact per attempt
Charbonnet at 1.5 yards before contact per attempt

That's nutty.

 

[MrS]

I'm really talking this game specifically.

I'm not some expert film watcher or anything so it's totally possible Walker is creating some of these issues for himself. It's also possible teams are playing the run more aggressively when Walker is in. I'd have to see evidence either way I guess.

But specifically on Sunday I've seen this number thrown around a few times now:

Walker at 0.3 yards before contact per attempt
Charbonnet at 1.5 yards before contact per attempt

That's nutty.

bmy impression from watching the game in person is that charb hits the hole faster while walker hesitates and misses his cuts

 

[MKHawk]

bmy impression from watching the game in person is that charb hits the hole faster while walker hesitates and misses his cuts

Yeah Walker did seem very hesitant. Im sure hes not creating all of his own issues in the backfield, but hes definitely creating some of them.

 

[MKHawk]

And good God I cannot take Riq blowing another game for us by doing the easy shit wrong.

He cost us the playoffs by being Uber passive on a deep ball in a home divisional loss last year, and did the exact same thing this year (and threw in a 2nd complete misplay to boot). I know hes crazy talented, and he makes good plays too, but Im sick of being the dumb team that makes the game losing mistake.

 

[Screamin12th]

This is what i saw, a push-off that turned Woolens shoulder which slowed and rerouted Woolen. The WR starts running to the inside pushes off and turns woolens shoulders before changing his direction again to the sideline. The smaller picture shows his left foot planting as he extends his arm, the larger picture shows he takes one full step back into the field of play pushing Woolens shoulder around ( rerouting him and slowing him ) Before he then once again heads to the sideline to make the catch.

 

[DurbanPoison2121]

From the Niners' position, Woolen is known to be soft so the running game came right at him on purpose. The Niners did the same thing to Riq last season, which got him benched mid-game. So although Kittle wasn't around in the second half, the Niners would overload and flow his way in the running game with Jennings, Juice, Williams, Kittle, Farrell, etc. and dare him to make a tackle. Your DL is superb, which was Riq's savior because he would have been obliterated if your DL didn't take on doubles and penetrate the LOS.