UPDATE: Apparently the Niners are in trade talks with (surprise) the Browns over the services of WR Josh Gordon. A very talented but character-lacking wideout. Taken as a supplemental pick in the 2nd round, he’s likely cost the Niners their Alex Smith 2nd round pick.
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Well, in what I thought would be a hard-fought battle for legitimacy as a bona fide playoff contender among a couple of underachieving teams turned into a laugher as Matty Iceberg struggled mightily at the muddy confines of Candlestick Park. The game got off to a rousing start as Schaub;s first pass of the night was returned for yet another pick 6. Matty’s 4th game in a row with a pick 6. Houston is 1-3 during this ignominious streak.
The game didn’t get any better for Matty and Co. as the Niner defense did a good job of containing Arian Foster and we nullified their passing game. Tremaine Brock, he of the pick 6, had another pick that was almost a 2-fer for him. His downfield coverage was excellent, and Tony Jerrod-Eddie got his Ninersforever bump with a pick of his own.
The offense? Well . . . The good news was they had a short field most of the night, and cashed in on their opportunities. Kappy had a great opening drive, taking the team 65 yards with 3 third down conversions. The other drives were of the short-field variety. 32, 11, 39, 69, and 2 yards. 64 yards of the 69 yard drive of course was the TD to VD. The run game again looked strong. Against a good defense no less. The passing numbers were anemic, (6-15 for 113 yards and a TD), but again, the fields were short, and the opportunities were taken advantage of. They sputtered in the middle of the game, but still got points, so take that as you will.
Winning 34-3 against a tough team is a good thing. Sure, there needs to ba a little more consistency on the offensive side, but all in all a great effort against a very highly rated defense. It’s tine for this team to rattle off a few decisive victories.
Forty Niners Forever 
They should have beat the Colts. IMO, passing game or not.
Running successfully against the Lambs, who suck, and the Texans, who had Schaub playing FOR us don’t necessarily mean that we’ll be able to just run when we want. Right now Roman is sucking at designing creative plays to get our pedestrian WRs open. Other teams do it. He has been a creative OC on the running side, not so much on the passing. In the end, we’ll need the passing.
Kaep has lost some confidence and it is up to Robaugh to get more creative in the passing game to help him out. A win is a win, BUT, they’re fooling themselves is they think that the Run/Strong D will carry them all they way. Gore may not hold up, the OL may have injuries, you just never know. Besides, if I were a DC I’d load up to stop the run and dare them to pass. Sound familiar?
Sure it worked against GB, but their D is really not that impressive. And against high powered offenses like NO (playing very well right now), our D probably won’t hold up. We’ll need more scoring then our running and paltry passing can generate. Having Crabs and MM back, assuming healthy, will help but coming off the injuries they are, there is no guarantee when that REALLY might be. As you’ve mentioned Chuck, our passing route strategy is predicated on getting our WRs as close to a defender as possible and then having CK not throw to them and take a sack, or run out of bounds. Meh.
Glad you posted your 2:40pm, Chuck. After Boldin and VD, we have no one who can catch passes. And Boldin can only seem to do it if they scheme him open. It’s pretty tough to have a passing game when Kap looks down field only to find his 1st target double teamed and DB’s painted on to the backs of the rest of his targets…..
I agree with the basic sentiment that WR are not generally getting open and the scheme needs adjusting to compensate. However, Williams has gotten open a couple of times and sometimes wide open nd Kap has not looked his was. VD was also wide open easy TD in Rams game and Kap missed him.
It feels like Kap is not confident in his progression reads and gets jumpy before he really needs to.
We’ll also have to get Vance involved more going forward.
I they insist on utilizing multiple TE sets, someone beside VD needs to get into the passing game.
I’m fine with ground and pound so long as we continue to take some deep shots.
One thing we never could count on with Alex were the deep shots.
Not the case with Kaep.
Funny thing is, Smith hit a 50 yard bomb from his own 1 yard line in the last game. It’s one thing I always liked (hated shen we played him) about Reid was he’d take deep shots from anywhere on the field. Every game for about 6 years his first play was invariably a bomb. Maybe it was only against the Niners but he seemed to do it all the time.
As far as Kappy goes, he’s still green. Russell Wilson’s numbers are dogshit, as are RG 1-III’s. None are getting very good protection, but Kappy sure seems a lot more tentative than last year. Why remains to be discovered. Some of it IS scheme. The coaches aren’t doing him favors by having plays that seemingly take too long to develop. Quicker passes, including slants, would be nice. Screens to slow down the pass rush as well. We’ll get ground and pound, but to make it work, we need to be successful in the air. AZ is playing a little better than expected, and they have good DBs, so the boys better get open.
Curious is the fact that AZ’s D is 22nd against the pass though. 6th against the D. Haven’t seen them at all this year, so I don’t know how Palmer’s doing. But, really? Palmer? Shit, we’d better be able to hit that stiff. I may have to score some tix for the game.
Chuck insults Palmer. Calling him a “stiff!” News at Eleven.
Chuck IMO Kaep is being told to make plays from the pocket.
His first year was about Read/Option due to his familiarity with it.
Made sense since he got the starting gig due to injury.
My guess is, Harbaugh/GRo are asking him to make reads this year.
He can always go mobile later in the year when Defenses stop expecting it.
For now, he absolutely needs to get comfortable seeing the field and finding targets.
He’s missing way too much.
Would help if there were some WR comfort for him other than ABoldin though.
Hopefully the Season will get rolling following the BYE.
For now, we need to keep pace and, not overlook the Cards.
Screens would also be much more effective if the Box isn’t always loaded due to our propensity for TE heavy sets too.
Motion and Spread would really lend to quick hitters being more productive.
Almost seems like we’re trying to get Defenses packed in for practice purposes?
All the heavy sets worked well vs Houston.
Absolutely destroyed their front on many occassions.
When you spring Frank though, he isn’t sporting a second or third gear to take it the distance.
LMJ could certainly take it yard though, if they could get him in between the Tackles more.
Good article in the Chron,
http://blog.sfgate.com/49ers/2013/10/08/10-things-the-49ers-can-do-right-now-to-look-like-super-bowl-contenders-again/#16659-1
I agree with the first assessment in this article, Colin needs to look deep first. he appears to look for the short pass (see A Smith) first. He needs to learn to let plays develope. especially passing routes.
Everything coming up roses for Aldon? Uh, nope.
http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/49ers-Aldon-Smith-hit-with-felony-gun-charges-4882140.php
He’ll be lucky to come back this year, or ever, with the Niners. This kid is in need of a major major behavioral makeover…
Oh, and Gooddell is going to love this. Multiple DUIs, shooting handguns off as warning shots, AND felony possession of multiple, illegal assault rifles. A trifecta of everything Goody doesn’t want on the sports pages. The suspension will be 6 games? More?…
Bye, Bye Aldon.
I don’t understand why Delanie Walker hasn’t been hit with some suspension time over this shooting incident. Maybe he will as the dust settles…
Fuck. Aldon Smith has completed step 2 of the 3 step fuck-the-greatest-gig-in-the-world-up-by-the-time-I’m-25 deal.
Next step?
Next step — a jail cell. Or, a casket. The dude better get straight, fast. The next party with guns may be his last. And, Prince Jed must be thrilled at the PR of this…
No shit, I think he can kiss this season goodbye. Get a great lawyer to avoid the multiple weapons charges and the jail time. Well, the thing is, Aaron Hernandez set the bar pretty high when it comes to stupidity. Aldon didn’t shoot his weapons at anyone.
Hell of a fucking party though.
He’s toast or at least his football days. Orange jumpsuit awaits.
Didn’t shoot anyone? Damn the character standards are high for the Niners.
Get a look at the Showtime piece they did on LT if you haven’t already.
Aldon has a lot in common with him apparently.
What LT didn’t have a problem with during his career is the increased scrutiny of the media and, current substance testing policies.
He was worshipped here in the NY area which fueled his wreckless behavior.
The NYG looked the other way for most, if not all, of his playing career because of the talent he brought to their Defense on game days.
Quite a good story done by Showtime.
Very candid, very personal, very revealing.
For all the havoc he wreaked as a player, his personal life was a nonstop party of self destruction.
I don’t really care what happens to Aldon, all I know is he is a talented football player who is hurting his team by not being there. At some point the Niners have to cut there losses and move on. Bye, Bye Aldon. Put in a replacement and get on with the business of Football.
John Clayton seems to think that Aldon can play this year, after his rehab stint (he thinks 4 games) while the rest of his legal entanglements unwind. Whatever come of that would be enforced next season.
Yeah, I remember LT and all that reckless shit he did. Hollywood Henderson did much the same thing. Lots of talented guys went down that path. Bullet Bob Hayes and Duane Thomas as well. Shit, they were all Cowboys . . .Michael Irvin . .
Interesting stat
Here’s the breakdown of the 49ers offense this year:
• First three games: 55% passing plays, 45% running plays, 18.5 rushes per game for Frank Gore
• Last two games: 33% passing plays, 66% running plays, 13.6 rushes per game for Frank Gore
Now this is interesting
http://www.businessinsider.com/49ers-stats-colin-kaepernick-2012-12
Kaepernick’s late-2012 breakout was an exception — a conservative team having a brief dalliance with progressivism before returning to what they’re comfortable with. He’s having a disappointing season because San Francisco has gone back to their power-running game,
He needs better WRs.
Nippy’s right. The WRs ave something to do with it. Smith never had a great stable of them either, but this team isn’t going sea-change. Not with Harbaugh. This is how he coached in college. 55% run, 45% pass. Besides, do you hear anyone bitching about Russell Wilson’s ‘disappointing’ season? No. He’s 4-1. 23rd in passing yards. Alex Smith is blowing both of them away. What does it mean? Not much.
Not sure what everyone is expecting. We aren’t going to become the Patriots. mainly because we don;t have to. Will it work in the playoffs? Well, look at Kappy;s numbers last playoffs. The defense was the culprit in the playoffs last year, putting the team behind early. Kappy got them out of those deficits in 2 of the 3 games.
Having a strong running game isn’t a bad thing. Ball control wins. The problem in the playoffs last year was our secondary.
The Giants fought and lost again. 0-6 worst Giants record in 30 years or so they claim. Ouch for them. Ouch for BART riders if no midnight deal. Ouch for the political impasse. Oakland lost…… another ouch for the locals.
Brandon Jacobs 20+ carries for 5 yards per is all you need to know about what shape the Bears D-line was in tonight.
Cutler is a good QB separated from the bad decisions and impossible throws of yester-year.
Eli is a good QB having a rough slump. A few inches difference in a few of his throws and he’s a hero back on his game. Some really bad throws in there, too. You know it’s bad when they have to rely on the out-of-football old man to try to keep the ball moving. Only a matter of time before they demand Coughlin’s head, again.
Tom’s a stand up guy, he’ll serve ’em his own head on a platter. Coughlin will resign at the end of the year. Just like what Roman and Harbaugh ought to do.
“Alex Smith is blowing both of them away. ”
18. Smith 1,202 yds
23. Wilson 997 yds
25. Kap 969 yds
Hardly blowing both of them away.
1. Manning 1,884 yds
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Smith, Wilson and Kap.
Chuck, someone who sucks as much dick as you should know more about blowing away.
Don’t take this insult Chuck on your own blog no less. Sheesh!
11 playoff losses? Romo 0-6? Yeah, they are the bomb.
And yes, Smith has thrown for more yards than Kapopy and Wilson. Plus, he’s 5-0. Howz about your boy toy Tony Romo? 2-3? Sorry facts get in the way of your idiocy, Dennis. welcome to nowhere if you keep this up.