Those are for Rob! Well, a highly herky-jerky offensive performance was rewarded with a road win for young coach Harbaugh. Harbaugh went to the air a lot more that the first two games (30 passes to 29 runs), and the results were all over the place. Smith ended up 20-30 for 201, but, as usual, he was sacked (5 times), hurried, and pressured all day. This is a recurring problem. He had at least 4 dropped passes. Crabs drop on a 3rd down was plain unnacceptable. The overturned TD looked like a bad call. Harbaugh should have challenged that. Crabs had a couple more drops. VD dropped a nice 20 yard out on the 9 yard line, plus he fumbled, but ended up with 114 yards on 8 catches. The drops are maddening. Smith was errant on a few passes, but Harbaugh must be really working with Smith on his tendency of throwing high balls, because most of his passes were low. Still and all, the Niners barely drove the ball past the 50, and the run game was again nowhere to be found. 68 yards is pretty bad. Gore had a costly fumble (lost) deep in Niner territory, Miller as well, although the Niners recovered that one. Miller looked good catching the ball out of the backfield, though. Without the fumble, he could have displaced Norriss. It still may happen. VD put the ball on the ground too. The highlight of the run game was Hunter’s 7 yard TD run in the 4th quarter to give the Niners the lead.
Defensively, the Niners started this game just like the Dallas game, where the opponent marched straight down the field to inside the 10, and forced a field goal (Dallas missed theirs). The base pass rush continues to be very solid. Only one sack, though it was a jarring hit by Ahmad Brooks. Aldon Smith was in early, but did not see a lot of action However, Ginger shredded the defense on that 1st drive. The run defense was again solid, but some of that is a by-product of the Niner defense giving up a lot through the air. The DBs, though, did well for the most part. Rogers undercut the out route for a nice pick, and R Smith made a very nice diving pick on the errant deep ball by Dalton late in the game.
All in all, a decent effort. The main thing is, it is a win on the road. Those are hard to come by in the NFL. Especially for a rookie coach. Just ask Tony Romo. Harbaugh is still trying to find an identity for his offense, and the struggles were apparent yesterday. False start penalties, unneccesary time outs, and missed blocking assignments were many and varied. Mainly because the Niners were trying to throw more than they had in the previous two games. Yes, this looks a lot like last year, and the year before that, but the reality is, this coaching staff has had little time to install this new offense. They started out with the run and are now moving on to the pass. Kind of an extended training camp. The hope is that they get more cohesive and right the little mistakes before they become a bigger problem down the line. Strangely, Gore was pretty passive blocking yesterday. He’s usually solid at picking up blitzes, but yesterday not so much. Gore had a bad day yesterday, and he may be in danger of getting spelled more often by Hunter.
Philly is next, on the road, and they were embarrassed by the New York football Giants yesterday. E Manning torched the vaunted Philly secondary for 4 TDs in the air, and Bradshaw gained 86 yards on the ground. Philly is a bit demoralized, but a win in Philly would be very hard to come by. The Niners would need to bring the pressure even more, and slow down Philly’s WCO. They throw underneath a ton, and with Vick likely out, this would be even more likely with Franz Kafka in there. A metamorphosis into a punishing defense that can stop short passes is needed.
Forty Niners Forever 
The Philly game is about using a ton of underneath and edge/bubble-type plays to negate their aggressive pass rush.
I’d utilize Peelle and Boone in 2 TE alignment and motion Vernon to the weak side.
Crabtree and Williams underneath, Ginn and Morgan deep. Kendall and Frank on the edges.
Philly is going to be a track meet game. Ball control is essential for us to even have a sniff of success.
I’m more concerned about DeSean than Vick. Willis and Bowman can run down Vick if we spy him and corral him. With any luck, we not see Maclin.
If we can continue to very our personnel packages and get a little creative, we can survive this game.
I believe our Defense is good enough to shut down Shady McCoy and Celek. Our OL and theirs are both pretty terrible.
We have more ability to change personnel and, I’d look for our TEs and RBs to see if we can exploit their LBs.
Still comes down to this OL giving Alex some time to make reads however, Story of our Team I guess. OL needs to show up one of these days and show some stones.
That should have read – ‘VARY’ our personnel pkgs.
How ’bout that keeker !!??
Shit, Dallas might not be bad this year. As shitty as they are playing, they are winning.
Ugly.
How many bad snaps can you have?
NJ, The Niners should take a play from the Eagles old playbook and go deep on play 1.
If the Niners can’t hit quick passes, they will get beat bad. Smoke routes and screens won’t work. They are going to pack things tight like everyone else does.
Chuck, the NYG worked the edges with these guys.
I’m all for throwing anything out there they haven’t seen us do yet.
Stretch it with Ginn and Williams, drag others underneath.
Run all 3 RBs at them all day too for that matter.
We have nothing to lose Man, go for it.
Philly that is.
Chuck if we roll the pocket away from pressure and show some Offensive creativity as we did with the TE throwback in Cincy, anything can work. Philly has lost 2 in a row and Vick is whining already. Believe me, if we manage to hand them another loss, the Philly Faithful will be calling for Andy Reids’ Head on a platter.
If they can’t pound their chests in victory, they’ll look to take a pound of flesh from Andy. Can’t tell you how many times they crucify the guy. He gets them to the Playoffs consistantly but, they can’t stand him. Ran McNabb out of town, then they go after Andy.
Damn comical if you ask me.
I work with one of their own. He’s already planning to be in attendance at the Phillies victory parade. ‘No one can beat our pitching rotation’. To which I always ask, ‘Why aren’t you 162-0’?
There are no words for how obnoxious Philly Fans are.
A 9er win would suit me just fine.
He guaranteed the NYG wouldn’t stand a chance against their Dream Team Secondary too.
Arrogance is Bliss in Philly.
Quote of the Decade perhaps –
“I know one thing about these guys, they’re not going to stop quitting,” Chad Henne said.
http://tinyurl.com/3rvt8cp
Funny. Dolphins sound far worse than us; maybe us last year. No wonder they tried to steal Harbaugh, putzes.
“Yeah no one quits like these guys” Ouch
Hopefully Rachal sits and the OL finds a way to pass pro so the passing game can get rolling. Alex will need time and protection from blitzs or he may not be standing by the break. How often did we use the spread in the last 2 games? Design some rollouts and move the pocket where Alex’s strengths can be a factor and he has a chance to survive for a few more games. He goes down we’re fucked.
We beat Philly it’s a miracle but as a Catholic I believe in ’em. Niners please play better than my fantasy team!
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