West Coast Killers indeed. Tampa Bay learned the hard way that this isn’t last year’s 49ers, last year’s coaching staff, or last year’s Alex Smith. The 49ers put a beat-down on the slow-starting (and slow finishing) Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the tune of 48-3. The largest margin of victory since the heady days of Bill Walsh (and Super Bowl XXIX). The 49ers, if they beat Deetroit next week, would BECOME the West Coast Killers. A suddenly a very legit powerhouse in the NFC. Hard to believe the speed at which they have assimilated the new offense of Harbaugh/Roman, and Vic Fangio’s newly aggressive defense. I guess Joe Staley was right when he said the O line doesn’t suck. The line pitched a shutout in protecting Alex, and opened up the tough TB D line for 211 (125 for Gore, and Hunter had some nice runs and 65 yards of his own late) yards rushing, and 205 passing.
The game yesterday was a thorough and complete beat-down of a tough NFC South team in the Bucs. One thing I like is the team has never taken the opening kickoff. They either defer, or the other team wins the toss. It seems to set the tone when they stop the opening drive. Especially when they can back it up with a TD. The Niners forced a 3-and-out, and scored in 4 plays to set the tone. The 2nd drive was stalled by the Gore fumble, but instantly erased by the Rogers pick 6. And the rout was on. Alex Smith now has the 3rd best QBR in the league at 104.1. His numbers weren’t huge, but they certainly didn’t need to be as the Niners threw for 205 and ran for 211. That’s balance. The big numbers in this game? 127.2 rating, 3 TDs, 0 picks. More importantly, he led the team on successful drive after successful drive.
The defense has suddenly become a ball-hawking (Nate who?) secondary that has 8 picks in 5 games. The D line has 12 sacks (including 2 by Aldon Smith yesterday) without blitzing very much. They confused and baffled Josh Freeman all day, and stuffed LeGarrette Blount to the tune of 38 yards. This was a statement game that I was fairly sure the Niners would come out aggressive, and not buy in to the grind-it-out style that everyone seemed to think it was going to be. These guys came out throwing (mainly in 2 WR/2TE sets), so there was little of the spread formations that were used the last couple weeks. Althogh Walker did line up in the slot for some big plays, includiong the opening drive TD that Smith put in there perfectly. They even used a bunch of 3 TE sets that resulted in some decent runs, and they threw once out of that formation for a 12 yard gain.
The great thing to see is that, with all the different formations and sets the Niners are running, there is a ton of shit for other teams to try and figure out. Passing out of 3 TE formations, running out of the spread, and being aggressive with the offense has been the biggest sea-change for this team. Harbaugh has fully sold this team on his strategies, and philosophy. I really didn’t think it would happen this fast.
Forty Niners Forever 
“His numbers weren’t huge”… actually, they were. That’s why his rating was better than even Rodgers, who threw for 396 yards. The QBR isn’t just about yards, it’s about overall passing performance. His numbers were huge…
The huge number is ZERO… the number of INTs that Alex has thrown the last 3 weeks.
That’s the big difference the last few weeks. Alex has made the plays to win, and has made very few mistakes of any kind, while our defense has capitalized on the opposing quarterbacks’ miscues.
” The huge number is ZERO… the number of INTs that Alex has thrown the last 3 weeks.
That’s the big difference the last few weeks ”
you got it GRUMP ! now smith imo will be an asset more than a liability for us ! with our last few coaches it was just the opposite !
TWIN !
I LIKE THE NEW RATING SYSTEM !
The smallest number is the most important. As in 1 int in 5 games.
If Alex keeps that up, the team will go far. +10 in the TO department 5 weeks in is mucho appreciado . . .
As I said, the keys- more to the TEs, more running at the edges. The less informed, some network types among them, have insisted that Frank couldn’t run out of the gun, and couldn’t run outside. I’ve been showing the numbers refuting that nonsense for two years now. While Singletary was insisting on handing the ball to Frank in the “I”- he was averaging 3.1 yards a carry in the “I”, 4.6 out of the gun.They ran very little out of the gun yesterday, but Gore ran the edges consistently and well. And obviously, their best receivers are VD and Walker. The wide outs have been nearly worthless except for Morgan, maklng Smith’s numbers even more remarkable.
The only thing that could have made it sweeter would be if we put this beatdown on the Vikings this year… just to watch Mike Singletary’s eyes pop out and his head explode when the media asks him why Alex Smith is doing so well after Singletary’s “Fooling Nobody” offense got trashed. That would have been good for a laugh or ten.
Well Chuck I don’t think it would have happened this fast either, but the Phillie game force Harbaugh to take chances in the 3rd quarter being down 21 points. unlike Singletary, Harbaugh saw that Alex can handle the offense. So Harbaugh decide to test it in this game to see if Smith could repeat what he did in that 3rd quarter, and low and behold Alex came through with flying colors. Nolan and Singletary just didn’t see it, or they refused to change…whatever.
Plus Nolan and Singletary did not have the right OC to call plays that would highlight Alexs strenghts.
Yeah, whoever said anything bad about Alex? I haven’t had that much fun watching a game in a long-long time. Like I said on Skeebs blog: I’ll take some honey-mustard sauce on my crow please.
I honestly didn’t think he had it in him, however, he certainly did. Anyway, it looked like the Stick was rockin and that the players could see what the 49er fans are really about. Also, we could see what our team is about too. Couldn’t be happier. I’m gonna have to watch close and see how the Lions OL operates tonight, I think we can get to these guys
As Maiocco pointed out- it was huge that Alex had the playbook and Camp Alex- he was the de facto QB, head coach, and OC… this would never have been as smooth without that. It’s significant that Crabs has only caught half the passes directed toward him ( 11 of 22) -all the the others are are at 75-80 percent- the miscommunication has been with the guy who missed that time…
Yeah, I remember Crab being asked why he wasn’t at those camps, and his response was something like, Is Alex the starting QB?? I have not heard who the starting QB is. What an idiot
Maiocco’s been blowing smoke up Alex’s ass for years. He’s finally right.
And Crabs problems go back farther than just this preseason. He’s missed virtually all of the camps and all the preseason games. It’s fairly telling that Crabs came in catching anything and everything, yet the longer he’s here, the wobblier he gets. He’s done pretty well, but nothing spectacular.
Not as right as I’ve always been…
If there ever was a paper tiger, it’s the Deetroit Lions. They’ve squeaked by a couple teams (including Tampa, Dallas, and Minnesota) and smoked KC. They haven’t really played anyone too too tough. The 2-2 Bears should be a pretty good test tonight.
Cutler? Still doesn’t do it for me. Neither Chicago or Denver has appeared to benefit from that trade.
Morgan is likely out for the year. he needs surgery on his fractured lower leg . . .
Ziggy or Long likely to come back.
Morgan will be missed as a blocker for gore downfield but thats about it. Our best receivers are The Disease and walker with Gore probably 3rd best on the…..wait for it…..checkdown!
Why Zigler? Cause he knows where the practice field is? Ziggy is gonna cone back, take one look at this offense and the new formations and go “what the fuck is that?”
Ziggy is used to Sing’s “Caligula” formation where all the players were stacked on top of each other .
Ziggy’s fast and has good hands. He’s on the fragile side, but hey, they takes what they can get. He was on the team early in camp. He’ll be fine. Williams was in kate as well. I hope he gets more time out there.
Ziggy was in camp and should know some of the offense. He is a tall target who runs really good routes and has reliable hands. He actually is not far behind Morgan and a similar player. We kept other guys – because speed at WR became an issue – but with Morgan gone, I think he makes sense as a replacement.
imo there might not be anybody happier for alex than coach sing imo ! all mike s. did wrong was agree with cheapass dr deyorkian and try to go with crappy coordinators instead of the top notch ones he really needed imnsho !
I beg to differ, Rob. The Vikes are 1-4 and reeling with McNabb. 17th in team defense. Sing regulary dogged Smith, and the Niners (with 85% of Aluminum Mike’s players) are 4-1 and kicking ass.
He and Teflon Mike ought to be a little embarassed by what’s going on with the 49ers.
All aluminum Mike did wrong was to not have a viable candidate for OC when he fired Martz. And to hire the underwhelming Jimmy-Hat Raye. And to run a stone-age offense. And to run a bend-and-break defense. And to set his QBs on on a merry-go-round regarding starts. And to ignore the effectiveness of Smith playing from behind and scoring points and not trying that to start a game. And to favor ‘his’ guys over the better players . . .
Et cetera et cetera et cetera . . .
One sign the D line is doing its job is that both inside LBs are in the top 7 in solo tackles.
Bownam is tied for 3rd with 36 and Willis is tied for 7th with 32.
Most excellent. Fangio/Tomsula are doing wonders with this defense. The front 7 especially.
Actually, the DBs are lights-out as well.
Mike was like Tricky Dicky- he surrounded himself with yes men – as a novice HC, he needed men to challenge him, but he was too insecure for that. Mike Johnson had some promise, I thought- Smith’s QBR was over 90 after Raye left. Of course he had to go after Harbaugh was hired but he would have been canned anyway- he challenged Singletary on starting Troy Smith, who is already out of the league, as I said he would be. You can catch him with the Omaha Nighthawks…
Tonight’s football game suddenly became must viewing.
and where are all the guys that wanted the niners to go after McNabb?? I would love to hear from them.
McNabb pretty much quit on the Skins. I wanted nothing to do with the guy . . .
Kolb was the guy I thought might be worth a look, but I think Freeman is still a pretty good option. As a backup at this point.
I’m still worried about the lack of depth of the backup QBs. They’d better keep Smith healthy.
Yup. This’ll be a good test for Detroit . . .
Another interesting stat. The Niners defense is #2 in the NFL in points allowed per game at 15.6.
3rd best QB, 2nd best defense. The paper Lions next?
Bring it on.