Well, we are almost at the make-or-break point already in this young season. A loss to St Louis would put the Niners 2.5 (possibly 3) games behind Seattle, and leave them 0-2 in the division. Seeing as Seattle has 2 tough roadies coming up (Houston and Indy) and they are fairly crappy on the road, the hope is the Niners can pick up a game in the next 2 contests, as the Niners come home to play the 2-1 Texans after this game tonight. Playing on a short week couldn’t come at a lousier time, but all teams are getting banged up.
Here’s the Niners injury report:
Mike Iupati G Shoulder Full Participation Probable
Vernon Davis TE Hamstring Limited Participation Questionable
Frank Gore RB Knee Full Participation Probable
Carlos Rogers CB Knee Full Participation Probable
Nnamdi Asomugha CB Knee Did Not Participate Questionable
Jonathan Goodwin C Elbow Limited Participation Probable
Raymond Ventrone S Concussion Limited Participation Questionable
Ray McDonald DT Ankle Limited Participation Probable
Kyle Williams WR Rib Limited Participation Questionable
Justin Smith DT Shoulder Limited Participation Probable
Navorro Bowman LB Wrist Limited Participation Probable
Anthony Davis T Shoulder Limited Participation Questionable
Patrick Willis LB Groin Did Not Participate Questionable
Most concerning of course is the status of our linebackers. Willis is most likely out. Bowman looks to play, but I hope he’s at close to full strength. Frankly, Goodwin being out could be a blessing as he’s been part of the problems with the pressure coming up the middle. I wouldn’t mind seeing how Kilgore Trout handles himself at center. VD practiced, but again, he’ll be a game-time decision.
The things to watch for are obvious. Dallas ran all over these guys last week, so the Niners look to get Gore rolling. If Gore and co. can rattle off some big runs, the hope is the coaches can scheme up some effective pass plays. TE over the middle for example. Dallas carved up the Rams mid-range defense for a ton of yards as well. The Rams run game is non-existent without Stephen Jackson, and if the Rams make any noise on the ground, it’ll bode badly for the defense as their passing game is putting up good numbers.
All in all a ginormous game for the 49ers. The coaching staff has to do some major adjusting to how teams are now playing them. The passing offense is doing nothing at this point. They either need to scheme things differently to get guys open quicker (slants, screens), or actually USE their WRs in the 3-5 WR packages. Defenses are getting all 11 guys on or near the line to jam everything up at times. REACT! There is little to no route adjusting by the WRs. No hot reads. Or they are jammed. The run game has been abandoned too early in the last 2 games. The Niners beat a pretty banged-up Green Bay secondary, but they stopped our run game at the cost of everything else. Defensively, the pass rush has been vastly underwhelming, and curiosuly enough, the run defense has been terrible. But this is a case of Seattle and Indy going to the run late in their games when the defense was on the field all the 2nd half. The Niners need to generate a pass rush somehow. Especially against the Rams. We will likely be nickel most of the game, so draw up some blitzes. Hit Bradford early and often. Play up to your capabilities.
Gut-check, reality check, or whatever body part check you want to call it, they can’t afford to go 1-3 and expect to realistically have a shot at the division.
Forty Niners Forever 
And for what it’s worth, I think I deserve a little “Street Cred.” for being a Niner fan. Moms, my brother Dan and I, all endured the 2-14 seasons of ’78 and ’79. I sat in Sec. 57. Row. 5 Seat 9 for each and every game. I’m a goddamn Niner.
I was just 12-years-old at that time. I caught a lot of flack at St. Jerome’s in El Cerrito.
I had to listen to all the other Catholic kids crap. Son of a bitch, history does repeat itself…
Hide the women and children, I’m bout ready to punch the next person I see in the goddamn throat.
Hey, Spitblood? You got a minute?
I’m babysitting Chuck’s yellow lab.
On a happy note: my mallards have returned to the Pinole Creek. Countless unsuccessful walks down to the creek only to be dismayed in the last 7 or 10 days has changed. My mallards (both male and female) are eating their day-old sourdough once again.
Del Mar Dennis feeds his ducks.
And I’m a 49er fan since John Brodie. I saw his last game at the ‘Stick.
Ducks might like DOS EQUIS.
All kidding aside: great win. I’m saying “great,” but in truth, it was only good, but we beat a division opponent (Rams) on the road. so, call it what you wish, but goddamn —we won. Works for me. onward and upward…
It’s nice, when you can put up one good quarter of football, and three mediocre ones, to play a team that truly reeks like the 2013 Rams.
One good quarter was more than enough tonight.
Still issues with this team, though. Harby needs to use the long week to address the anemic passing game.
INJURIES have cost this team a lot except for last night. Rams were flat….flat….flat… at home. They better move out of that cow town and move back to LA. That Dome stadium really sucks for atmosphere.
Bingo. The 2nd half was fumble, 3 and out, 3 and out, 3 and out. They were in danger of burning the defense out again. Thankfully the Rams suck. Bowman had a monster game. Kappy started again by missing opportunities downfield. but at least they rolled him out early to allow for some quicker completions. They schemed some decent plays to no avail. The o didn’t click until they started feeding Gore up the middle.
Patton’s out, but it’s easy to miss what you don;t have. Baldwin made a couple catches. Still looking for more than Anquan. VD’s presence helped free Boldin up, so that was good news. Kappy did get to the 2nd read on the VDs TD.
The Ram pass rush was so-so, and their run defense non-existent. If the Niners had lost this game, it would have been a disaster.
LAMBS REALLY SUCK!
BAAAAAH!
Well, now that I have had a good nights sleep, lets do some critiqueing, Lets start with Gore, did our O Line suddenly remember how to run block? And did Gore suddenly get his legs back. Lets face it. until the Niners play a quality team we are not going to know what we have. I have seen too many games where Gore will have this kind of game. The next game the whole offense is based on him running the ball. The opposing Defense sees this and low and behold the run goes no where for the whole game. The OC needs to come up with the right balance. Run, pass, QB run. etc. Going back to the 1st down run, 2nd down run, and then the screen was very disappointing to say the least. If I never see that again I will die a happy guy.
Well, Gore needs to get his touches. As long as 1st down is a 4-6 yard run, it’s fine. They need to play-action off of it though. They did roll Kappy out some. Good to see. They schemed plays to get Kappy going, and it eventually worked. Having VD back helped Boldin immensely. They need to stick with tht formula and work Baldwin into some plays. If he can get 5 balls a game, it’ll help everyone overall.
Glad to have the win. Especially over the Rams who’ve been basing their rep on last year’s division record. We saw a totally different team on the field last night. For a while I thought it was a which QB sucks harder contest. After making the Rams respect the run CK7 got on track. I hope we don’t forget that formula.
Still too many backs and TEs in the backfield to suit me and too much motion. Trying to disguise everything as read options cost us more than it did the defense. Stop that and stop trying to base our offense on trickeration on every play. It takes too much practice time away from real productive football plays anyway. Much easier for the guy calling plays to dial up situation winners instead of I-hope-they’re-not-paying-attention gimmicks.
The one thing I liked was them spreading the formation w 5 WRs, and running up the middle early. It did open things up. But yeah, I’d prefer they use actual WRs in the process. Patton looks like he’s out with a knee injury. Baldwin at least made a couple catches, even if one of them he failed to reach the 1st down marker. VD’s presence kept Boldin a little cleaner than last week.
New thread is up.