Well, it’s only preseason, and I know I’m not supposed to be concerned, but (stop me if you’ve heard this before) I’m a little concerned with the mid-range to deep passing game. 4-5 series, and we’ve barely thrown anything besides 4 yard outs to the WRs. The only deep pass Smtih completed was the pass to Ginn when Smith broke contain. Moss was open for a TD on a pass to VD that he dropped. And Moss himself dropped a pass from Cappy that would have been a 1st and goal. Beyond that, the pass blocking was pretty bad, and Smith was under pressure. Which is why I think Smith rarely gets to his 2nd/3rd reads. As in the play where he didn’t see Moss.

I guess I’m making too much out of this, but I get a little nauseous when I hear how crisp and awesome our practices are, and how well Smith is hooking up with Moss/Crabs downfield. Is this where they leave it? I’ve heard this for the last 3 camps. Smith finally has a grasp, blah blah blah. The game starts, and wwe get the goddamn everloving 4 yard out. A route that I want to see retired. Just like Bill Walsh went to the well too often with the Roger Craig sweep, this play has seen better days. I am STILL waiting for the Niners to throw slants, crossing routes, and the occasional deep ball.

I mean, there’s saving this for the regular season, but if you don’t practice this stuff in games, how do you truly know if it’s going to work? The overarching point to all this is, if Moss gets overlooked on plays like the one in the 2nd quarter where Moss had the entire left side of the field to himslef, and Smith doesn’t see him, Moss will likely become very disillusioned about how he’s expected to produce here. Manningham was targeted once. Crabs got his 4 yard out. Moss got a 6 yard out. Hou meanwhile threw the ball all over the field to numerous different WRs. Where’s the beef? I know we are going to be a ball control offense, but really, you HAVE to throw passes downfield. Otherwise we’ll be in the same boat as last year. Lots of FGs, and leaning on the defense.

Frankly I think this is a recipe for backsliding. The D, no matter how well it plays, will not likely get 38 turnovers again. The offense needs to do a better job of pressuring the opponents defense rather than just trying to burn clock and keep the other team from scoring. Push for a 17 point lead, and THEN go heavy run.