RolandDeschain
Well-known member
Maybe the line played better in the second half because we were running outside the tackles more, and spreading out the receivers more, so that the 49ers defense couldn't bunch up near the middle of the line of scrimmage as much. We almost always make great halftime adjustments. My issue is that we wait until halftime to do it.WestcoastSteve":pw9koz0w said:The line played a lot better in the second half.
The offensive coaches made good adjustments.
Also we saw Russ step up in the pocket which was nice.
Look at the first halves of games for the year and see how often Russell throws more than 10 yards down the field outside of play action. I bet it's a either the lowest percentage in the league, or at least in the lowest few. Then look at the second half tonight; how many times did we target Lockett and Metcalf greater than 10 yards down the field, NOT on play action? A bunch.
It's the same old story. If we can't establish running vanilla play calls between the tackles pretty much right off the bat, then we are mostly ineffective on offense until the second half. I'll bust out a Beauty and the Beast quote to sum it up: it's a tale as old as time, a song as old as rhyme. At least, under Pete Carroll. When we had an elite defense, it was an effective tactic. Without an elite defense, however...well, look at how many one-score games we had this year. It's been a great season, but we're half a dozen plays away from being half a dozen wins fewer. That's not sustainable.