A funny thing happened on the way to Colin Kaepernick’s ascendancy to the upper echelon of the young guns of the NFL. he pitched a ball 15 yards toward his own end zone, thus giving the Rams 8 points and new life. This of course came after retreating 24 yards only to throw an intentionally grounded pass from his own end zone for a safety. Kappy scored 8 for ther Rams, and 13 for the Niners. The Rams earned 5 on their own for the win.
Belaboring the conervative play calling may not be anyone’s idea of fun, but it has to play a part in this team trying to reach the promised land. yes, you change your look to what the defense is showing, but the Rams had the line packed most of the game, and the Niners still tried to run into in, to no avail. this game was so much a Noloan/Singletary game. With the exception that those guys may have WON this one.
Harbaugh called an option pitch from his own 17 yard line with 3:31 remaining in a game where the StL offense had scored zero points. The snap was low, and Kappy hurried the pitch, and it skipped to the 2 yard line, where Ted (Allen Rossum) Ginn pretended to try and get the ball. At best he should have knocked it OB, kicked it OB, fallen on it, or something other than the lame-ass attempt to get it that he did. Janorious Jenkins recovered the fumble on the 2 yard line. Inexplicably, and with Ginn sitting on Jenkins’ helmet after the recovery, Jenkins wasn’t ruled down by contact and was allowed to roll into the end zone for a score. Hometown call but whatever. StL converted the 2 pt conversion for the tie. The rest we all saw. Bradford scampers for a couple 1st downs with the obligatory stupid fuckup by Dashon Goldson on the hit to Bradford. For as good as he is, he continues to make some boenheaded plays at the worst possible times.
Anyhow, back to the play calling. As much as Kappy wants to pin this game on himself, and there is a large amount of resposibility that falls on his shoulders, you have to really question what Harbaugh/Roman are thinking. All game the Niners ARE playing it fairly conservative. Gore had one big run surrounded by a bunch of one yard runs. The passing game consisted of the kind of short shit that everyone blamed on Alex Smith’s limitations, not the desire of a head coach to play it safe. Kappy was supposed to assume the starting role because he brings more downfield striking ability to the table. Well, it was rarely shown all game despite the Rams packing the line and daring the Niners to go deep. They didn’t until the 3rd quarter. Again, VD was eerily silent. Walker dropped a sure TD, but there were very few downfield shots taken. Moss? He gets his 1 or 2 12 yard outs. He’s gotten I think ONE deep pass all year. It’s insane.
All that being said, the approach WAS working. The Niners had an 8 point lead with 4 minutes remaining. The D was stopping everything the Rams had. Then the fateful pitch play. If ever there WAS a time to play it conservative, it was then. Instead, Harbaugh wanted to go fucking college gimmick look-at-me-I’m-so-cool play, and boom, a gift 8 points for the Rams. Kappy did make another mistake, but it came after his 50 yard run to set up the late lead. He should not have gone OB on his 10 yard run to set up Akers’ 33 yard FG. A quibble? Maybe, but it would have forced StL to use their last time out before their last drive.
After trading punts in OT, Hekker boomed one 14 yards to give the Niners the ball at the 50. Now HERE’S where you DON’T go conservative. After converting a 3rd down to StL’s 37, the Niners ran right 2 tims for 4 yards. They tried to get the ball to the left hash mark, but the pass to Crabs was incomplete. Still and all, you don’t really want to leave your struggling kicker with a 51 yarder. Even indoors. Take at least one shot downfield. a nice mid-range pass or something. I know they were worried about a sack, but being conservative pretty much sealed their fate. I think about 95% of the Niner fans out there knew what was coming.
Forty Niners Forever 
I guess you don’t read your comments. He’s out of the league, pal. Sitting at home .Counting the money he stole from the team. You were wrong before he took a snap in 2011.Now do as you say, “man up”…
I’m not pissed: as I write this, I’m still amused by the Chuckles math, the Fear fabrications, these are the things that keep me coming back. And I always enjoyed your own battles with the Chuckmeister and your allegiance to the Flying V or whatever he calls himself these days. You’re good theater and a fine spokesman for football and America in 1946.
I’m very amused by your pretzel-logic surrounding anything related to Alex Smith. What was the score when Smith left the game?
This is like WW I. Trench warfare. Neither of you is going to change each other’s minds. But tilt away boys. Reminds me of me and V.
Monumentally stupid? How about amazingly biased? Kappy had the Niners in position to win both of those games. If not for our shitty kicker.
Cappy led the Niners on a 90 yard drive against the Rams that you conveniently forget about. It should have sealed the game. He did much the same vs the Saints when that game was in the balance.
Bitch and moan all you want about the decision, and yeah, there are going to be growing pains, but truth is the offense isn’t a hell of a lot different with either one of them in there. I was hoping for more action downfield, but the Rams did a good job taking the deep shots away. I mean, i guess they did. The niners rarely tried, and I didn’t see their deep coverage. I know the corners were playing off the line most of the time.
The pisser is the coaching. They could have thrown slants ALL DAY. Moss was getting a 12 yard cushion. Run that same fucking play over and over til they stop it. And again, no screens, no delays. nothing to counteract their packing the LOS. harbaugh has the Singletary hard-headedness at times where he thinks he can impose his will on the other team, regardless of what they show defensively.
this issue isn’t whether AS would have played better or worse or if Kap is a better QB or any other nonsense. This is totally about the move JH made that he didn’t HAVE to make. He could easily have let the season play out with Alex QBing at a near elite level and then in the off season the Niners could decide to cut ties with Smith and anoint Kap the starter for 2013.
But JH didn’t do that, he pulled the rip cord NOW. And he’s given himself little margin for error. As Twin said last night, Kap has to play AT LEAST at the level Smith was playing and in my opinion he has to play at a higher level. Otherwise, why make the change?
And determining that has nothing to do with *well, no one knows what Alex would have done so you can’t compare the two.” That angle isn’t even worth discussing since it’s a total unknown.
Just look at the QB ratings if you want an accepted way to decide if Kap is playing at or better than how Alex was playing. And I’m fine with Kap continuing to start the rest of the year, at least as long as he’s not imploding.
But at the end of all of this, if the Niners don’t win the SB and Kap ends the season with a worse QB rating than Smith then this was unquestionably the wrong decision. Notice, I’m not saying he has to win the SB or get there or any of that—the fact is, if they win it, no one will give a shit about the QB ratings of the two QB’s.
But “at or better than the level Smith was playing” HAS to be an expectation for Kap for the rest of the season……..
Young QBs do not have linear learning curves.
I expect that most likely, CK will learn from his mistakes and go on to have a very productive career in SF.
As for this season and this SB, I’m not confident in winning with either QB. We have simply been too inconsistent this year. The O-line, the run game, the pass game, defense and the ST have all had their bad games.
Any team that gets into the playoffs can get on a roll like the Giants did, and run the table. But right now, based on what I’ve seen the past three months, I doubt that will be us. Hope I’m wrong; but I doubt it.
Just read that Kap’s biological mom still hasn’t met him (since she gave him up) but is trying to and he’s refusing. And it’s a little creepy that she follows him on twitter…..
She only contacted him when he became a starter.
In her mind was JACKPOT.
yeah. I just read all her tweets. back in May she was directly trying to contact him and was actually being kind of a stalker with her comments. Anyway, creepy, and if she cared at all about him she wouldn’t put this undue pressure on him at such an important time in his life.
At least as good as what? There’s no way to determine how Smith would play under the game conditions that Cappy’s playing under. There is was and will be no way to determine this, no matter how hard you extrapolate numbers, compare QBRs W/L records, or whatever.
This season, Smith showed he can play good enought to beat good teams, good enough to beat bad teams, and also bad enough to lose to good teams. Minnesota is an outlier. Cappy? Well, according to Twin, the beest defense in the league was easy peazy, winning in the Superdome was a setback, and last week was armageddon for Cappy. Pretty much a microcosm of Smith’s season so far, IMO.
Frankly, the way harbaugh coached it last week, it appeared he wanted to see if he could win with Cappy playing, and using Alex’s game plan.
Uh, Jim? No.
Try to be truthful, Chuckles. I know it’s a strain, but what I said was that Chicago’s *pass* defense was not as good as Arizona’s- you now, the team that Smith was 18-19 against. (At the time AZ was 5th, Chicago 10th).
And what I said about Kappy after last week, beyond pointing out his errors, was that the coaching staff has to give him more help against Miami. In fact, this statement almost parrots what I said
“Frankly, the way harbaugh coached it last week, it appeared he wanted to see if he could win with Cappy playing, and using Alex’s game plan. “
Chuck, regarding your first paragraph, that’s what I was saying and I actually typed the words: “And determining that has nothing to do with *well, no one knows what Alex would have done so you can’t compare the two.” That angle isn’t even worth discussing since it’s a total unknown.”
But the QB rating is a perfectly acceptable way to compare QB performance. It’s a loose way to compare them, but it’s still an accepted way to compare them…..
Chuckles, I was addressing your math issues. 7 points in 1 1/2 quarters is not worse than 17 in 3 1/2. And the TD Smith threw after the concussion might been been the biggest score of the game. It brought them to life…
Now listen up: it’s entirely reasonable to look at Smith’s record, his numbers, and look at the NO defense, and make an educated guess as to how Smith would have played.
Pretzel logic? Smith doesn’t play defense. He was 7-8 with a TD. Any logic says he played better than Kap did in that game.There’s no logic to say he wouldn’t have continued to play well if not for the injury.
Now here’s where you need to pay attention: I’ve given Kap his fue when he’s played well and criticised his mistakes. That’s not bitching and moaning, pal. I have an opinion that it was the wrong move- and while there’s a valid opposing opinion, I do support my view. So fuck off-you’re suppressing my opinion by constantly attacking it as if it has no validity, Your’re acting like a fucking Blog Nazi.
It seems that being against the switch is what’s illegal here..
Smith left the game with a 7 point deficit. Cappy tied the game.
Duh. What part of that gives Smith the nod for doing a better job?
Did Alex give up 14 points, dilwad? Smith’s numbers were better than Colin’s, pinhead. You’re again trying to advance your dipshit notion that there’s nothing in Smith’s record or stats that offer any clue as to how he might perform.. In the first Ram game there was compelling and concrete evidence that he was performing at a higher level than Colin would proceed to perform. As to the NO game, even in winning the previous 5 of 6, the NO pass defense was absolutely horrendo. You say that one can’t guess how Smith would do but that’s exactly what you do- presuming he’ll pull a Cody Pickett…
Wow, what a little baby you are, Twin. Why was Smith behind? 3 drives with the ball and he got 7 points. Smith had one good drive before he got hurt. You don’t know if Smith wins that game if he stays in, so shut the fuck up about it.
Smith was 2-3 for 17 yards on the first 2 drives. Awesome. They both started slow. Cappy tied the game that he came in losing. What part of that doesn’t compute, skippy?
The Kapper loses the Ram game if Wiliams turns around, he loses the NO game if the defense doesn’t get two pick sixes .But for the grace of Lombo, the football God, he’s 1-3.
“But tilt away boys. Reminds me of me and V.” That’s fucking hilarious, You and the suddenly beloved NoFear were sometimes non-stop for days on end. Chuckles- you would have challenged Ghandi if he’d engage you in argument.It’s what you live for.
Go piss up a rope, Twin. Yer the biggest instigator in all of blogdom.
Blogs are are somewhat like letters to the editor. The difference is that morons like the infamous Lanny Middings,Jr. ( a hybrid Chuckles/NoFear) get to demonstrate their ignorance unchallenged in a letter to the editor.So yes, I’m the biggest instigator if taking the ignorant to task is instigating.So I guess I’m somewhat of a Kaped Krusader myself
And you, sir are a major leauge blowhard.
Lowel Cohn has nothing on you.
Yeah, but in one life’s great inequities, I don’t get paid for it. BTW, isn’t “Grant Cohn” his son? What a great Thanksiving they had. The neighbors had to call the cops after they got into another “I hate Alex more than you do” slugfests.
I was against the switch, skippy. I was surprised harbaugh didn’t go back to Smith. Mainly because it eliminates any other path. Harbaugh runs a big risk of losing the team if he switches back to Smith for any other reason than injury. QB roulette rarely leads to anything remotey good. In fact, the whole pounding Kappy’s shoulder pads ritual must have felt pretty terrible to Smith. Leaving Smith in gave Harbaugh an out. Now he doesn’t have one.
The rah rah ‘who’s got it better than us’ shit all looks great when you are winning but when he switches his allegiance to the back up QB for no good reason and pulls the same pregame routine, well, I’m sure there were players on the sideline thinking, ‘WTF? That’s cold.’
Harbaugh has put himself, warranted or not, into a situation that brooks nothing but a Super Bowl appearance. It’s a huge risk. Say this season craters amid a 1-3 finish. 9-5-1 may reach the playoffs, it may not. If they miss the playoffs, what then? Or one and done with Cappy? Do they jettison Smith anyway? Harbaugh will have pissed off the team for bailing on Smith, wasting this season, and next year could very well be another debacle under fucked up circumstances. In other words, the 3rd year curse that last 2 coaches fell under.
Yeah, I thought that pre-game routine stuff was pretty cruel and really not necessary. Harbaugh flipped the switch in his head and seems to relish in humiliating Smith now. Pretty lame.
Harbaugh’s response to the reporter question yesterday of whether Smith can win back the job says it all. No way Harbaugh is going back to him. Hell, Smith can probably hardly walk after the deep dicking Harbaugh gave him. Regardless of what happens this week Belichick will have 3 full games to build his defensive plan around. It is pretty certain that Kaepernick will struggle in that game. It will be interersting to watch see happens this week and next as the drama that unfolds.
It was truly funny- in one week- a week that saw Kap, Roman, and Jimbo all fuck the pooch in the ass, Alex went from “he’s our starting QB:” to “he’s one of our guys”. At that rate, if Colin has another bad week it’ll be “Alex? Alex? Anybody know an Alex around here?”
Then again, if Kappy loses to Miami, there will be loud rumblings in the locker room that Smith should get the nod in NE. At that point, the team would be in serious danger of imploding. Seattle will likely go 3-1, or run the table if they beat us. Which would put them at 10-6 or 11-5. Any kind of losing streak on our part, and the Niners are out. Then we are fucked in the worst way.
Of course there would be no way telling if Smith might have lost the first Ram game, the Bear game, the NO game, the second Ram game, and this week against Miami.In fact we should just figger that he would have lost all of them because, well, there’s just no way tellin’ about these things.
The team was 6-2 in the games Alex started and finished. Gotta say, they coulda been 0-8 with Colin.You just never know, do you?
He’s started and finished a lot of games, skippy. 20-6-1. Got it. Kappy’s 2-1. Yeah, I have doubts about how Smith would have handled the NO game. But to you that means I’m a hater and it means I think he would have gone 0-23 with 5 picks. So be it fuck-o. Your schoolboy nonsense is really endearing, BTW.
I guess the true comparison comes when the Niners rehire Mike Nolan to coach the team after Harbaugh gets run out of town on a rail due to his benching of Smith.
I don’t think you’re a hater, Chuckles. just the greatest waffler out there. I wouldn’t waste my Wychwood Farm maple syrup on you, though. I’d say you’re a Mrs.Butterworth guy, Chuckie.
You’re a Mr. Butterworth guy . . .
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Oh yeah? Well, uh, hmmmm. dagnabit..shit, you got me there, Chuckles.
Humor, skippy. Try it some time.
You miss all of it, Chuckles..
Bleeding heart empathy for poor Alex aside, the QB most likely to help the team more is Kaepernick. So says the guy who gets paid vast piles of shiny coins to evaluate and choose. Need I remind anyone, he’s the guy most fans were wetting their pants in excitement that we hired for that exact job.
Of interest and germane is QBR: Alex’s 2012 total QBR = 69.8.
Kaep wk11 = 97.5, wk12 = 72.3, wk13 = 82.4
Team W/L record 2012 Alex: W,W,L,W,W,L,W,W,T (left game down 7-14)
Team W/L record 2012 Kaep: W,W,L
Looks like we shouldn’t be having these disagreements on performance. Or pretending that’s what some are bitching about.
I’ll go one step further, NoFear.
Cappy’s in the lead. Alex ‘loses’ the 1st Ram game because he left the game down 7 points.
Cappy ‘wins’ the Ram game because he scored more points and overcame the deficit Smith put them in.
So, that’s 6-3 (.667) to 3-1 (.750). Cappy has a slightly better winning percentage.
Hyuk . . .
Well, I left the inferences as an exercise for the reader. YMMV!
I can almost hear the furious googling and data mining in progress with the intent of undermining anything that could be construed to Kaep’s credit.
What that pattern shows, though, is that we have been inconsistent with both QBs this year. And it’s been something different every time you turn around. QB, O-line, Akers, defense, coaching.
This team just isn’t giving me the impression that they can win three in a row. Not even with Peyton Manning. Not this year.
Grumpy, do you think some players, like Staley, gave less than 100% (albeit unintentionally) because they sympathize with Alex and think he got screwed?
I’m telling you, Fear, Kap isn’t going to gain much favor as the Great Emancipator if he puts one guy back in chains to release another. Forget Staley, Vernon doesn’t start getting his looks, there will a shit storm-no “grumbling”
If the O-line doesn’t block better than it did against the Rams Kaep won’t be looking past the hot read or an escape route very often.
No. I don’t think there is any of that, at least yet. They were coming out flat and awful every three weeks with Alex in there, too.
Some of it might be ‘Victory Disease’ after last year. Some of it is bad luck. Or bad mojo. And some of it defies explanation. Whatever the case, this team cannot seem to maintain its focus for very long. The reboot at QB will not help that, but also did not create it. This may just not be our year, regardless. Hopefully I’m wrong and we catch fire in the next month. But time is getting damned short for that.
(obligatory response)
Liar! Fabricator! Lowlife from Room B! None of it is true.
Alex is the best. The best ever!
Oh, everthing in Kaep’s favor or “credit” has been duly noted, NF-by me.BTW, one of the more amusing openers in Lynch’s blog is “Unca_Chuck said blah blah- I (Lynch) didn’t say that…”
But good to see Chuckles and Fear back in bed together. Who gets to play the Kenyan?
Really? You are going back 4 years?
Gee, I’m honored you devote so much effort to this.
Childish fail there fan1. More than two posters disagree with you. Must be an ego thing with you.
So NF, apparently Bullit has run you off of Skeebs blog so I learned today. He is an annoying maggot but I find that hard to believe.
There’s never been any doubt that more than a couple disagree with me. But the Fear-Chuckles bonding is curious indeed.
ITSET:
#1) Texans off
#2) Patriots off
#3) Ravens home against #6) Steelers
#4) Broncos home against #5) Colts
#1) Falcons off
#2) 49ers off
#3) Packers home against #6) Seahawks
#4) Giants home against #5) Bears (now without Urlacher, the Redskins or Buccaneers will take their place now IMO)
These weird couplings only happen in your head, twin. For shame.
ITSET? Ahhh . . . if the season ended today.
Yeah, I don’t get the deal either. Win 2 lose 1. Repeat as needed.
Cappy fell right into line with that.