253hawk":21nakx2n said:
Seriously? Jim Marshall, The Buttfumble, Leon Lett, Kyle Williams...
That was just a good play on a semi-poor pass. Maybe we should have ran a pick like the Saints and it would have been a TD. The 49ers passed it 3 straight plays to the same side to the same receiver from the 5 yard line against the Ravens and no one talks about that. :roll:
Here is the thing, this play WAS supposed to be a pick play. The biggest issue on the play was the design of it. The concept is fundamentally solid, the main issue is the match-ups. You had Kearse who was charged with picking off Malcom Butler. The issue here was he was up against Brandon Browner, the most physically imposing corners, and Browner knew exactly what was coming. He told Butler "go here" and he held Kearse up at the LOS -- meaning he never got to make his pick. Browner pressed Kearse, and he never got off Browner. The play was dead in the water right there. The second problem was the fact that we used one of our worst receivers to make the play. Game on the line, and we decide to go with who? Ricardo Lockette, a receiver that is prone to drops, whom was never a good route runner in the first place, on a play that had zero room for error. Moreover, the Patriots stated that from that formation we almost always ran this same exact play on the goalline. In the video it shows the Patriots even practicing against this same exact play.
This play was telegraphed, and we put Kearse and Lockette in an optimal position to fail. I think given all of these factors, combined with the fact that Lynch was gashing the Patriots, we should have at least given Lynch a shot before resorting to this kind of play.
