This game will be a very good indicator of the talent of this team. In the preseason, the Niners were easily handled by the likes of NO and Hou. This is the real thing, though, and whether taht makes a difference remains to be seen. All we have heard about so far is what the Niners have supposedly kept under wraps, not what they accomplished last week. The O was vanilla. And even blander in the red zone. The D was straight up for the most part, and didn’t do much blitzing or trying to fool anyone. In other words, this was a Singletary game. However, it was a game that Sing usually lost. So, that alone is a plus for Harbaugh.
Truth be told though, hearing what these guys will do in an upcoming game is also a Singletary thing that I couldn’t stand. Show it. Don’t talk about it. Hearing how well practice went, or how well Smith hit deep balls on the practice field usually makes me throw up in my mouth. Show it, and shut up about it. Harbaugh, to his credit, doesn’t talk much about anything regarding practice, injuries, or anything that could even mildly be construed as something the opponents can use against them, or the writers can write about.
So, another excersize in vanilla ice cream, or will Harbaugh unleash a bit of a down field passing attack? It would be nice to see the run game go as well, but you, me, and the watercooler all know Dallas will come out and crowd the line to force Smith to beat their D with some mid-range passes. Bubble screens, smoke routes, and runs up the middle won’t work until the Niners hit a few passes longer than 5 yards. Pass blocking is essential. Somethng that was a problem in the preseason. DeMarcus WHERE? is the key for the O line. Slow him down, and let Smith hit some passes, and the line should be able to get the run game going.
Beating Dallas, a good but flawed team, would be a big feather in Harbaugh’s cap. It would give the Niners confidence, and the fans a little hope, and hopefully swing the momentum for this team going forward.
Forty Niners Forever 
Whitner bit on the run. Should have stayed home in that down and distance.
Harbaugh’s play calling was the biggest reason we lost – helped in no small measure by Alex’s miscue, and lapses in pass protection.
Fuck. Defense wasn’t up to snuff in the 4th . . .
This sucks.
fox needs to get the camera off that loser praying on the sidelines. sheesh
later..
Whitner is a guy who looks for the big hit. He is vulnerable to being suckered like that. But in that situation… NF is right, gotta stay home. Stupid play.
Harbaugh either learns to stop this “play not to lose” shit, or he’ll be back in collge ball in two years.
God, I hate games like this. The pass pro failed in the end. Couldn’t run in the end. Harbaugh got too cute in the end. Play action for an 8 yard sack after the 7 yard run. Where’s the blocking? Howe doe DeMarcus come unblocked in ANY situation? One fucking slant that went for 15 yards. Smith with his brain fart. But the biggest fail was the defense. They let Romo out of too many 3rd and long plays. Two scoring drives with the 10 pint lead.
Big fail. Folks will now second guess the decision to take the points on the 55 yard FG.
They left it up to the defense, and they didn’t do the job.
They never were able to run, Chuck. Not just at the end. This was a tough, well played game.I don’t know that I ‘d try so hard to find fault.
Tip your cap if you must. I hate the fucking shit. I was hoping the D would play that stretch a little better. The Niners were overpowered in the end by Dallas’ line.
When you get beat by the very guys you know they are going to, it makes it all the more bad. Even with the pressure, 427 yards in the air is flat terrible. 3 guys with 100 recieveing yards? Blehhh.
I like their attitude.We’ll see as the season wears on but I see them as much better than last year. But they need to get Gore going or get a change of pace there.
Well, they have to protect their QB and they have to get to the other QB.
It goes without saying. As much as I hate to say it, Tony Romo is a winner, Alex Smith is not.. That fucker came back with bruised/broken ribs and beat our ass with the 2:00 drive to tie the score. Seriously, if any of you would take Alex Smith over Tony Romo? You need to see the shrink twice as much as I do.
Yards passing: 427 vs 132. I don’t need to tell ya which goes where…
Romo played great, but 420 + yards is on the defense. Smith also played well, 99 QB rating. Diff was pass rush. Now go the Dallas blog, trolliot…
Fuck God Damn.
I knew the yardage was lopsided, but 472 to 206?
The D wasn’t very good today. Again, they left themselves vulnerable to big plays. The D line did pretty well for the most part, but the DBs got toasted with regularity. Witten got WAY too open WAY too many times. Same with Austin.
Harbaugh needs to learn the lesson of his predecessors. Play it safe, and you get burned in the end.
God, I hate Dallas. I still don’t like so many Gore up the middle calls they were ready for em. This one really hurts.
I’m not gonna rail on AS for throwing a pick. It’s what you do AFTER that makes or break a QB. After is winning. Our OL played good in the first half, and our play calling/execution in the 2nd sucked big time. I want to be good, but truth is we’re not. We’re mediocre. Truth hurts. I think we’re better than last year — but much of that is a coaching upgrade and strangely enough — the coaching has much to learn.
400 yards. Sheesh. Our pass did NOT set up the run. I can only surmise that either the OL, and the play calls, are seroiusly sucking on the run plays, or are “pass” is still just not scaring anyone. By hook or crook, until it does, I see more of same.
*our* — I’m so pissed I can’t even use the English language.
I don’t see much to be pissed about. The team played tough but came up short against a good team. They’re not crushed- they know they can play.
Easy. I thought we were going to win. Against Dallas. Whom I hate. With a fervor of epic proportions. Would I be less pissed if it was any other team? Yes. End of story.
Well, don’t hurt yourself.
It’s the latter, Barley. The niners need to show more downfield passing, IMO. Until that happens, the run game goes nowhere. VD has been very quiet so far. Williams needs to be used more on deep routes. What sucks is the game was there for the taking. The D didn’t hold Dallas at all in the 2nd half. The offense didn’t get much going until the pick/TD to Walker. The blocking failed in the end. The Niners got worn down on bith sides of the ball.
Chalk it up to the Niners not being all that good, I guess. The coaching needs to learn on the fly as much as the players do. The play at the end of the 1st half was a KILLER. There is NO WAY a guy should get that clear and be able to score with the time left in the 1st half. The play in OT as well. Those 2 plays were colossal failures on the defense’s part.
Link to the gamebook: http://www.nfl.com/liveupdate/gamecenter/55190/SF_Gamebook.pdf
The offense did not execute. Seven drives after halftime, one TD on the long pass, two first downs. About ten minutes of possession in the second half to Dallas’s twenty.
Leave your D on the field all day, and they wear down.
You cannot go conservative with 30 minutes left and think you’re going to win. This ain’t college, and it ain’t Stanford, JH.
Test
Good game, The Cowboys just made less mistakes at the end