Random Thoughts™ on the 49ers game

[Vetamur]

Thanks as always Kearly. And as usual I disagree on a couple points, but always appreciate the time and thought and effort you put in. A couple small points from my point of view.

I totally agree on Coleman. I was at the game.. focused on him on a few plays. Youre dead right..Lynch doesn't trust his blocks. He doesnt treat a defender blocked by Coleman as unblocked , but he always doesnt consider him "erased"..he treats him as somewhere in between, giving him a wide berth.

Surprised you didn't talk about McQuistan when talking about Okung going out with turf toe. McQuistan played LT the rest of the night, and considering he gets no practice time there apparently did awesome. I cant remember which game it was but early Sunday I was watching a game and a teams LT went out and it was like opening a flood gate. Our OL hasn't been great to this point but I thought they stepped up and hung tough. After giving up 3 sacks in the first half they gave up just one more in the second and were part of the reason Wilson was able to settle down.

The Hulk looks more like the offspring of Gollum and the Hulk.

On Kaep.. Id have to disagree. He is a great athlete and with time is good. I did not think he showed much poise however. He looked exasperated and sloppy. Some of his passes under duress were truly awful, off target, no mechanics at all..just panic stricken desperate heaves of the ball. The difference between him and Wilson under pressure couldn't have been more striking to me. I was at the game so will need to watch the TV coverage to see if that changes my impression but overall I thought this game more than last years really provides a road map for handling Kaep, if your team has the type of CBs that can handle Boldin and Davis.

 

[ivotuk]

Without Okung, our OL is a hot mess. Even on the radio, guys were talking about Carpenter getting bullrushed back into Wilson's lap by ALDON SMITH. Really ? Also, you might as well but a schoolgirl skirt on McQuistan and let Aldon Smith spank his ass the next time they match up like this. It's rare you can hear a completely dominant perfomance over the air with no visual aids, but Smith's was one.

I never saw this. Justin Smith had trouble with Carpenter and considering Paul had no reps at LT last week and he was going up against one of the premier rushing ends in the NFL, the fact that he only allowed a couple of sacks was great play. And even all of those weren't his fault. They didn't always give him help, and when it got help, it wasn't good. Basically a chip on Aldon which didn't even phaze him. It was poor blocking by the RB, I think it was Turbin which surprised me considering his success in the past.

 

[kearly]

Good stuff Kearly, but I vehemently disagree about one thing, Kaepernick.

Let me say this, his mobility is tremendous and some of the best I've seen, but last night showed a guy who really lacks the nuances of playing QB. He was utterly lost when his first read wasn't there (something I've been saying for about a year now) and his ability to throw on the run is pretty awful. He could be extraordinarily dangerous if a) he looked to throw before running (though he is so effective it's hard to blame him) and b) if he was able to remain in control and throw with accuracy when he is on the move.

Again, he's a tremendous talent, but as far as being a QB is concerned, he has a long, long ways to go. Harbaugh is a QB genius, which I think will both help and hinder CK. It will help because it puts him in ideal situations. It hurts because it's a crutch toward's CKs shortcomings as a nuanced passer (ie progression, touch, mechanics/footwork).

Excellent points regarding RWs poise btw. It shouldn't be undersold how impressive it is to start out overwhelmed and poor, but to actually transition into a pretty damn good performance, post delay. I don't care if you are a vet, that is a really, really hard thing to do, and in all honesty, I don't think someone can "learn" to do that.

I think against us, Kaepernick will suck, no matter how hard he tries or how well he performs by his own standards. I just thought that with his limitations given the extremely difficult circumstances (probably the most difficult matchup/conditions any QB will face this season), he played close to the best he is capable of. Our defense is his kryptonite. Against every other defense? He's going to tear shit up.

 

[kearly]

Thanks as always Kearly. And as usual I disagree on a couple points, but always appreciate the time and thought and effort you put in. A couple small points from my point of view.

I totally agree on Coleman. I was at the game.. focused on him on a few plays. Youre dead right..Lynch doesn't trust his blocks. He doesnt treat a defender blocked by Coleman as unblocked , but he always doesnt consider him "erased"..he treats him as somewhere in between, giving him a wide berth.

Surprised you didn't talk about McQuistan when talking about Okung going out with turf toe. McQuistan played LT the rest of the night, and considering he gets no practice time there apparently did awesome. I cant remember which game it was but early Sunday I was watching a game and a teams LT went out and it was like opening a flood gate. Our OL hasn't been great to this point but I thought they stepped up and hung tough. After giving up 3 sacks in the first half they gave up just one more in the second and were part of the reason Wilson was able to settle down.

The Hulk looks more like the offspring of Gollum and the Hulk.

On Kaep.. Id have to disagree. He is a great athlete and with time is good. I did not think he showed much poise however. He looked exasperated and sloppy. Some of his passes under duress were truly awful, off target, no mechanics at all..just panic stricken desperate heaves of the ball. The difference between him and Wilson under pressure couldn't have been more striking to me. I was at the game so will need to watch the TV coverage to see if that changes my impression but overall I thought this game more than last years really provides a road map for handling Kaep, if your team has the type of CBs that can handle Boldin and Davis.

I actually did mention McQuistan in the OP.

I agree that our O-line played better than the box score might indicate, although quite a few of those holds called against us looked legit.

I'll watch again but I don't remember accuracy being a problem for Kaepernick. The only bad throw that stands out in memory was the Chancellor INT. Our defense shut down his receivers, and there was literally nothing he could do most plays. I don't have all 22, but I do know that he only completed maybe 5 passes in this game a TE/WR that was clearly open. Kaepernick gave a heroic effort, but our defense just crushed his supporting cast and forced him to play outside of his comfort zone. As tough as his final stat line was, it could have been way worse. It wasn't that Kaepernick sucked, it was that our defense was suffocating and a matchup nightmare for SF. On top of those factors, the defense played their best game, maybe ever, on top of that. Stellar is not a good enough word to describe how the defense played.

 

[kearly]

As for Kaepernick, Kip, while he showed what a dynamic athlete he is tonight, I think him running a little bit wild was an acceptable part of the defensive game plan, as long as he could not score. The Red Zone play where he rolled right looked just like last year, and in fact thatey ran that play in both games last year, and now three times that play has ended with him getting smashed at the sideline 4 yards from the goal line. On plays where he is the biggest threat, he gets shut down. When he escapes the pocket vs man coverage, there will be big runs. But if he makes no big plays with his arm or big plays on called QB runs, that is acceptable. Kind of like facing a great point guard, if he goes off for 30 but has no assists, win for the D.

Definitely. Even though Kaepernick was a lot more effective as a rusher than any of us would have predicted before the game, his offense still struggled mightily. As a passer, it was almost like watching Brady on Thursday night. The receivers were providing negative value. Throwing the football was essentially a waste of a play.

 

[VivaEfrenHerrera]

...The only bad throw that stands out in memory was the Chancellor INT....

Papaki's throw on the first pick wasn't too good either. On replay, it looks like if he had gunned it in on a line, he could have made the completion. But he left it out in front of the receiver too much and it got deflected.

 

[Shock2k]

Kearly, I was almost sure we would run Christine Michael towards the end of the game. But they ran Ware instead? Any ideas here? I'm thinking there will most likely be some garbage time in the upcoming Jaguars game, so I was wondering if we would see him make an appearance.

 

[seahawksTopGear]

I have a different take on kps failing today. We took away his first read amd he was exposed as a first read only qb.

No shame on that, and no reason for him to not be successful in this league if he had a couple more receivers.

 

[pmedic920]

Thanks for the time you put it on this stuff. Another good read.

 

[MOCHawk]

Kearly, I was almost sure we would run Christine Michael towards the end of the game. But they ran Ware instead? Any ideas here? I'm thinking there will most likely be some garbage time in the upcoming Jaguars game, so I was wondering if we would see him make an appearance.

C-Mike wasn't on the active roster for this game.

 

[Fuzzman55]

I so want the Sea-Hulk to be a pediatrician or lawyer or something. Epic alter-ego.

My number one concern heading into the game was the run defense and the Hawks shut it down from the first snap. San Fran came out with some designed QB's run, trying to take us by surprise, but nothing was there. Wright seems to play his best games against the Niners and I swear he's Kap's kryptonite when he tries to get out of the pocket. Mebane looked healthier and Mcdaniels is a chore to block one on one even by the Niner's physical guards. Great effort all around by the D-line and it gives me some confidence moving forward.

Thanks for the write-up.