Well, game one is in the books. Crazy-ass game. Just when it was getting scary, it turned into the Ted Ginn show. 276 yards in KO and punt returns, and his 2 scores late in the 4th quarter sealed the game. He outgained both offenses. The D played well for the most part, barring the breakdown in the 4th quarter. 5 sacks and innumerable pressures werew good to see. Seattle didn’t run for much or pass for much.
Young Sir Alex? Well, he played what they gave him. Didn’t see the deep coverage, so it’s hard to see what was going on downfield, but he did miss aan open Crab in the end zone early on. Smith was more a victim of some questionable play calling in the red zone more than anything else. 1-12 on 3rd downs will not get the job done. 1-5 in the red zone won’t get it done either. Seattle seemed very intent on not letting Gore beat them. As he has had some of his biggest games against them. They forced the game into Alex;s hands, and he did OK with the sort passing game.
My fears of the defense being out of their depth proved to be unfounded. At least against Seattle. Jackson isn’t Romo, but the pressure was in his face all day, and the defense caused their share of havoc all game.
All in all, a game to build on. Let’s hope they give it a little more gas in the red zone next week.
Forty Niners Forever 
Nothing to support that conjecture? Christ, Mike. Get over the Smith bashing paranoia. It’s a legit question as to why this team doesn’t run slants. They’ve thrown maybe 8 in the last 6 years. Don’t tell me the defense didn’t give them the option. The hallmark of the WCO IS the quick hitters. Slants. They’ve run any number of different styles of offense these past few years, but NONE have included the slant.
My trouble with this offense is it resembles last year’s too much. Short safe passes and rare shots downfield. Edwards should get a lot more stuff thrown his way. Crabs? Criminy, the dude is a ghost. It appears his best days are already behind him. Morgan? He’s fine as a 3. Williams is a guy who should be rocketing up the depth chart. Ginn? He seems to be inproving a little as a WR. Did we try to go deep? No. I understand the ‘workmanlike’ approach. I understand that it is game 1 of Harbaugh’s tenure. But like I said, it resemebled way too much the kind of offense the other regimes built around Smith.
Here’s some conjecture. What came 1st, the chicken or the egg? Why are these coaching staffs building this ‘safe’ low-risk offense around Smith? Are they seeing limitations to his game in practice? Or, for all these years, these coaches have decided that the best way to attack all these teams is to run 5 yard pass routes? You don’t know. I don’t know. But really. At some point one of these myriad coaches he’s had has to let him go without training wheels.
He’s shown plenty of time where he can get it done. Harbaugh needs to trust him with a fully formed offensive attack. Yes, he didn’t make mistakes yesterday. Great. As a lot of people are saying, though, at this point in his NFL career, I’d like to see more than safe and short.
And yes, this is on Harbaugh, not Smith.
No passes over 2 yards!! this offense still looks like Singletary is running it. You watch Brees, Rodgers, and Manning. When they go back to pass they are looking up the field for thier receivers. Smith is looking at the line of scrimage for his recievers. One more time for the 49er coaching staff, this is a pass orientated league, they dummy down the rules to protect the WR and the QB. That is why it was quite possibly the dumbest thing to sign Gore to an extention. Until I see passes 10 yards or greater. This will be Singletarys offense until that happens.
Yesterday, Ted Ginn saved Alex Smith’s bacon. Smith was running on fumes. 124 passing yards? 0-9 on his first 9 3rd down attempts? 3 points in the second quarter? Pete Carrol made his D adjustment to Alex and Alex was done, then Ted Ginn saved the day.
Harbaugh doesn’t want a game manager, he’s fuckin’ Captain Comeback for Christ’s sake. He’s a co AFC offensive player of the year, or co-MVP (I can’t remember which). Think Harbaugh doesn’t know what’s up with Alex Smith? But what are/were Harbaugh’s options? McNabb? Hasselbeck? Kaep? Tolzien? So you coach around what you have and you make the best of it. Harbaugh hugging Smith on the sidelines and handing the ball off three times after the pass interference penalty in the endzone that gave ’em 1st and goal at the one, only to result in a field goal is Harbaugh making the best of it. Harbaugh taking the ball out of the qb’s hands and winning is making the best of it.
Unfortunately, Ted Ginn miracles can’t save Alex each week, and Harbaugh doesn’t look to be a patient man. Can’t wait for better competition.
“Harbaugh taking the ball out of the qb’s hands and winning is making the best of it.”
Yeah, but what you said about losing the players over Crabtree’s pay is relevant to AS’s play. If JH goes all playing-not-to-lose because he knows AS is doggy doo, then the players know it too, and he starts losing them. That can’t happen. Sure he does not have anyone to step in yet. CK certainly doesn’t look ready. Tolzien — who the hell knows?
If it was up to me, and apparently, it’s not, I’d let Smith sink or swim with an aggressive strategy. He either pulls off a couple 300 yard games and inspires some thrills for his offensive teammates or he throws picks, fumbles, crap behind his receivers, and hastens his benching. This route or the “safe” route might both get us to 6-10. One though hastens the process of future QB development.
so SPITBLOOD i;’m not sure . did you say you like alex smith , or did the game plan reflect the fact that smith will never be a hall of fame QB !
why don’t you stop beating around the bush and just get to the point ?
the real test will be next week vs. dallas !
all right rob, I’ll get to the point – I want Cedrick Benson because Starks is killing Grant. I also need a TE. Let’s package up Gates and Benson for?
And Ann Killion can write. She’s far better than Matt Maiocco. I like her better than Ratto.
One thing we didn’t notice, that she did – the team was coached well in all facets of the game.
I just read it. As always, she cuts to the point. This is not a finished product, but its a move in the right direction. What we saw yesterday was a return to bare offensive competence. I know, I hate to use the “C” word for fear of invoking Gollum / Smeagol / The Troll of a Thousand Names. No matter. For the first time in some years, we had no major coaching fuck-ups, no communications issues, no game-killing mistakes. It was dull to the point of ugliness, but it worked and we didn’t fuck it up. That IS something. Hopefully it isn’t all, but it’s a start.
i agree ! i like ann killion ! matt maiocco … not so much !
oops , i just figured out why ted ginn is so good at returns !
because if he runs for his life and brings it back all the way he doesn’t have to take any hits or hard tackles !
maybe the ones he brings back for TD’s are because he can’t quite figure out where the sidelines to get out of bounds are quick enough !
LOL
anybody know that ted ginn took a 1.2 million dollar paycut to stay with the 9ers ?
they say he might make some of it back with incentives , but imo
they should give all of it back to him now !
Actually, Maiocco was quite clear on the why of the game plan.
As to Ginn saving Alex, it doesn’t quite work that way, numbskull. Number one: without the error free offense, Ginn might not even be in a postion for the returns. And two- so fucking what if the special teams helped? Do you apply that stupid reasoning to every team?
Of course fucking not, All three units contributed to the win- Special Teams taking the spotlight, for sure. Harbaugh isn’t happy with Smith, he’s fucking ecstatic- first NFL win, against Pete Carroll?
He’d have Smith’s baby right now.
Oh, so Smith is responsible for Ted Ginn. I got it. Sure.
That’s not what I said. Look, Sonny, if you don’t understand this game, don’t comment on it. You clearly don’t understand the value of tough, error free football. So just leave this to those who do.
Here’s what Ginn did: he contributed ( spectacularly) to the TEAM win, he didn’t “save” anybody. Got it?
Fuck Maiocco. He doesn’t know shit. I get the reasoning. My problem is it smacks of the last 2 regimes. Play it safe on offense. Shut down the other team on defense. The big problem? Getting a big enough lead. In playing it safe, they were susceptuible to exactly what happened. It took Seattle 2 drives to cut the score to a 2 point margin.
1-5 in the red zone is horse shit. 1-12 on 3rd downs is horseshit. Yes, it’s a win. Truth be told, Seattle is in rebuilding mode as much as the Niners are. They are not a very good team RIGHT NOW. They have a VERY young front line. They KNOW they are weak up front and went with the short passing game and run game early. They however aired it out in the 2nd half to the tune of 17 -3 their offense compared to ours.
What happens if Ginn doesn’t return the KO for a TD?
5:30 left in the game. Niners up by 2. Stop me if you’ve heard this before. See Atl. See GB. See NO.
We’ll never know what would have happened, but truth be told, Smith hasn’t won a game put squarely on his shoulders in quite a while. Yeah, NO wasn’t his fault. Neither was Atl. But he made stupid mistakes in both. Yet the D fell through in both in the end. Yes, it’s a team game. But time and again, as least last year, this team forever is in 3rd and long. 98% of the pass plays are 5 yards or less. YAC is important in the WCO, but NO ONE respects OUR WCO it if keeps going as it did this game. It is nearly identical to the last 4 years. bubble screens. 2-step WR passes. This win acvtually raised more questions for me about the direction of the team. This team is in trouble offensively, and they need to step up dramatically to be considered even decent.
Like I said, until they fully trust ASmith with a fully realized offense, we’ll have the same-old same-old 3 and out offense. The onyl difference being we’ll be stuck with 3rd and 4’s instead of 3rd and 9’s. Yesterday’s 1-12 showing doesn’t give me a lot f hope.
73 yards of total offense in the 2nd half. 65 on one drive (FG #5). This is a problem. Teams the Niners face are fine with us playing it safe and keeping the score down. They know that eventually they will hit something big.
Yes, it’s play calling. I don’t want anything to do with the offense that has been run here the last 4 years. Yes, Harbaugh should open things up. It had better happen soon. Teams aren’t playing us any differently than the last 4 yeas. Crowd the line. Stuff the run. Blitz Smith on the passing downs.
This was the game plan against Seattle- that’s has been made clear, Chuckles. Once you fucking understand that, you understand it was executed well. You’re a fucking alarmist- always have been, the sky is always falling. He’s not gonna have the same plan against a high scoring offense, if you can’t figger that out, you’re just not thinking. I doubt that you have ever ENJOYED a football game in your life, you’re so fucking busy with your usual, “nice, but…”
I’m not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater here just yet. If JH wants to take baby steps, recognizing that his team barely knows each other and his system, and needs time to gel, I’m okay with that. I just hope we get to see the training wheels come off later this season, so we can evaluate Smith in the full WCO offense. I’m not *satisfied*, but I remain patient and hopeful that things are slowly turning around.
And kicking Dallas’s gay asses back to Steers and Queers Texas would be a nice next step. Unlikely, maybe, but let’s see the cards on the table.
As I’ve patiently pointed out, without the error free game from the offense, Ginn may never even have a shot at his returns. Too complicated for you? We’ve covered this, you’re putting shit on Smith that you wouldn’t put on any other QB.
“Stop me if you’ve heard this before. See Atl. See GB. See NO.” Atlanta he left with the lead and never saw the ball again. NO, tied it with a brilliant drive- never saw the ball again. GB? There’s nothing to put on him there. You’ve really gone over to the dark side, Chuckles. You used to be at least fair, now you’re just another “disliker”. And all of you HATE any announcer or writer who doesn’t “dislike” him.
That’s my point, Grump. This game was in serious doubt until Ginn sealed it.
I’d like to see more Smith in motion. More play-action. Yesterday looked way too much like what we’ve seen in the past, not some bright new future.
BUT, it’s early. There’s time to integrate this stuff into the offense. I just hope it is in the plans.
Let me paint you a small picture, Mike. Say Ginn doesn’t return the KO for a TD.
Say Niners gain 17 yards on the ensuing drive.
Say they punt to Seattle. The D has been on the field for much of the second half. They are tired. 4:20 later, Seattle is in position to kick the game winning field goal, and they do. Not far-fetched by any stretch of the imagination.
Smith still has his error-free game. Yet, they lose. Moral victory? A lesson learned for a new head coach? Whatever. Harbaugh is going to find out, much like Nolan and Singletary did, that playing it safe in the NFL doesn’t usually work out, unless you have a defense in the top 3 a la the 2000 Ravens.
You and your labels, Mike. They are real cute.
Dark side, my ass. I wasn’t happy with the red zone play calling. Or much of the rest of the play calling. Much of this team’s problems stem from the play calling. But SOME of this has to fall on the QB’s shoulders. If the blocking holds up, they need to go down field more often, or get overrun by better teams. This is how the NFL works now. ALL the rule changes favor the passing game. Look at the penalty incurred on Madieu Williams. A clean hit on a guy going over the middle. If that’s a penalty, then the game is getting WAY too soft. The point being, you’d might as well chuck and duck and take the PI penalty.
With what other QB in the league would you be saying a return “saved” the QB? It’s bullshit on several levels: if he saved anybody it was Harbaugh for the play caling inside the 5.Two: Niners never trailed, as much as you’d like to, you cannot presume Smith would not have led the team to a score. Three; you could more fairly say he saved the defense after the blown coverage on Baldwin.
But really, all of it is builshit. Ginn and his unit sealed the win for Harbaugh, the offense, the defense, the TEAM, not Alex Smith.
The game plan was Harbaugh’s and it was executed to a “T”. Listen up: it is not the SEASON game plan. Got that? Look at the bright side: there will be a different plan against Dallas and new opportunities to bitch 24/7, win or lose: cuz that’s how you guys roll.
Yesterday I posted that there was nothing to bitch about and someone piped up that there was. Wrong Bongo- things to address, things to be concerned about? Sure. Anything to bitch about? Unless the dog ate your sandwich, not a Goddamn thing..
I haven’t even seen the entire game yet but I can see our game wasn’t designed to feature Alex and he was restricted to short work. In that he did a pretty good job. But Harbaugh either doesn’t trust Alex to open up the game or is trying mightily to protect him and build his confidence, even at the cost of a win.
Seattle obviously knew right away Smith wasn’t going to be a factor and set up to stop Gore, who didn’t look that hard to stop, btw.
The play calling was terrible, especially in the red zone. It looked a lot like when Jimmy Raye was favoring the WCO formations and awkwardly throwing in motions and shifts just to look like something was happening.
I liked the defense in their man free style. More zones slowed the pressure and the DBs. Some interesting subs and uses of the nickel and dime packages. I liked RJF at nose for the first time ever.
Ted Ginn, wow. I hated his acquisition and had written him off as a guy too afraid of contact to be an effective return guy.
I’m glad we got the W but I hope we prepare the offense better for Dallas.
NOFEAR
imo harbaugh is trying real hard to help smith gain confidence ! remember we got to 7-9 in 06 with smith , and have better talent on the roster now ! imho if harbaugh can get the best out of smith we have a shot at a better record than the 7-9 we put up in 06 this year because of it !
😀
i agree with GRUMPY at 4:55
I’m really surprised that there is so much negativity about yesterday’s win. A win in football isn’t like baseball, it’s a god damn gift that you fucking celebrate. Harbaugh is smart. He’s infinitely smarter than all of you. If he decides that the game plan for the Seattle game was to go vanilla and put the game in the hands of the D, so be it. He got lucky with some special teams plays but that’s what football is, players making plays.
I will be SHOCKED if this is the game plan in 6 weeks. With the lockout there is no reason in the world that any sane person would expect him to be able to get *his* offense installed in Game 1. He’s building up Smith’s confidence and those of you that don’t understand that little tidbit about success in sports at this level should just stop typing and go straight to focusing on securing food and shelter, the only two things you’re qualified to spend your time on.
I never heard back from Dennis about the bet I offered. Didn’t expect to. He’s like most bloggers, content to shit talk their way 24/7, probably almost preferring the team lose as long as he can find more ammo to target a guy he wants to murder. Idiotic. I also love how the “DMD’s” of the blog world never have any suggestion of who should realistically be playing QB today. Why would they? They fucking LOVE IT that Smith is QBing—if he wasn’t they’d have no one to threaten to kill.
And if the Niners lose Sunday (and you can see Denny rooting for that so badly, fucking pathetic that he calls himself a Niner fan) I am sure that most of you trolls will focus on the play of Smith. And maybe that will be warranted, we’ll see. But to sit here on Monday and not celebrate the win along with some very solid play from Alex within the parameters he was allowed to work is just totally lame.
Mike, try Kyle Orton. The human interception machine. Chicago fans and now Denver fans, are understanding that in a big way.
The reason it is negative is because a) Seattle sucks. b) The play calling was too Singletary.
Look Flav, Smith has been in the league 7+ years now. Yeah, he’s learning a new offense. But to say they are treating him with kid gloves at this point in his career is ludicrous. Build his confidence? I don’t know. If he needs to be coddled at this point, he’s beyond help. Cam Newton?
Yeah, Smith didn’t turn the ball over. Bully. But I hated the ulttra-conservative shit in the red zone. A good offensive team beats our conservative shit every time. The game was in the balance, and the Niners had put together ONE non-3-and-out drive in the 2nd half. I was very concerned until the returns.
Sue me for wanting to see the offense take some shots down field. Or try to score TDs in the red zone. Prove me wrong. Get aggressive on offense. Again, I was worried about the defense heading into this game. But I had no idea they’d dumb down the offense this far.
Like me and everyone else is saying, there’s time, and this is LIKELY a result of the short preseason, but look around the league. Lots of new guys are lighting it up.
Cam newton is the last guy who needs to worry about confidence. He’s probably got statues of himself and his house. People are different, Chuck. If Smith needs some confidence building at this point in his life, fuckin let him build it. Do you think harbaugh trusted that o-line to protect Smith long enough to go downfield? After that shit pre-season that they had? He was gauging where the O-line was at this point and factoring in the shit competition. We will see the offense open up in the coming weeks (6 of so)
Talk to me about stodgy game plans and the checkdown Charlie bullshit after they’ve played more than one fucking game. I’ll go with Harbaugh’s assessment of Smith over yours, “Skippy”..
The line WAS pass-blocking well. And the did a little more downfield passing in the 2nd half. The piont being, the running game wasn’t there. They have to take shots when things aren’t working.
God, Mike was wondering what other QBs get ridden mercilessly? Did you just see what Orton just did? Facing little pressure, he dropped the ball.Oakland recovers and drives for a TD in 2 plays.
That’s not what I said, don’t fucking make shit up. I said you people don’t apply the same standard to Smith as you would another QB. And you’re the worst, IMO, because you changed your position only to curry favor with your audience here.
The line was pass protecting better, not well. Smith threw with pressure in his face over and over. Including when he checked down to Gore while The Diva did her act in the EZ..
Holy shit.The Raiders must have 250 yards of penalties.