SEATTLE WEATHER REPORT: 50º cloudy, 20% chance of rain, 6 mph winds out of the southeast. 100% chance of bloviating . . .
For all you Al Di Meola/Stanley Clarke/Chick Correia fans out there . . .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSksWyHsYw8
Well, the inevitable has happened. We remain road warriors and now travel to Seattle for the be-all end-all showdown. Everyone knows the particulars. Seattle wore us down in week two 29-3. The Niners took them at the Stick 19-17 on a game-winning field goal. the trash talk is prety intense, at least among the fans. I posted a couple innocuous posts on Field Gulls (an SBNation blog) and was promptly banned. Much like the Seahawks themselves blocking anyone from the state of California from buying tickets to the game. Pretty fricking hokey if you ask me.
Anyhow, as much as Seattle fans want to deny it, the Niners are coming in pretty hot. Russell Wilson has posted very pedestrian numbers these past games starting with the Niners. I’ll post them soon when I get them, but Kappy is spreading the ball around nicely. He looked off Keuckly on a couple completions over the middle, and generally looks a lot more comfortable in the pocket. Gore was Gore, and the defense took a little while to wear down the Carolina line, but they eventually did in the 3rd quarter.
Should be a hard fought game, and the winner truly deserves to bring home the trophy.
Bring it on.
Forty Niners Forever 
Anyone notice the formations used in the first half? For the most part the ones for which Roman has been roasted for not using. Considering the offense was limited to a pair of field goals for the first half, with the exception of the last thirty seconds, the notion of play calling being crippled by the lack of receivers on the LOS in the formation should be put to rest. IIRC, the TD to Vernon was out of a jumbo personnel I formation on the goal line. You know, the one everybody knows never works.
I did notice it yes. They moved the ball pretty well first half despite Kap being a little bit off. The play action from the Jumbo formation is precisely what we have been asking for, what doesn’t work, at least not often, is the run from the Jumbo to gain a yard or two. Roman in this game called untypical plays and it largely worked.
I don’t recall any posts calling for precisely that. I do remember making the point that running from these formations, even when the play doesn’t produce big gains in yards, is a big reason that play action does work from them. Nobody cared.
It seems like CK7’s rushing TD came off a play action and Gore’s forty yarder came out of a similar power I formation.
I’ve only posted that about 500 times this season, NoFear. Surprised you missed them all.
I think we all understand the concept of running certain plays so that it allows for the surprise play action. In my opinion the jumbo was run repeatedly and for very little effective gain as they almost always did run from that formation. Yesterday was one of the very few times I have seen them run play action from it.
I don’t think its been worth not succeeding on many 3rd downs during the season so as to be able to spring that particular play.
The trade off makes no sense. It’s not necessary to fail 10 times to succeed once for instance. Simply vary the calls from whatever formation you line up in.
Just my humble O
Lets have some manly thoughts for a change. Worry worts dominate this blog and reveal a hopeless nerdy nature.
OK, you first.
Egads! Are you saying that posting bleeps and woofs after most of Chuck’s posts has set the wrong tone?
Meow?
Hey NoFear, let’s go all the way back to yesteryear. OR January 6th to be exact:
January 6, 2014 at 2:36 pm (Edit)
Been saying it for 3 months.
I don’t know about elementary but it is obviously wrong.
Uh, no. It worked, didn’t it? Of course it did. Threy threw from the packed formation, and the ran in a 3 WR set (Kappy;’s run foir TD).
Try to keep up with me. Roman must be reading this blog.
The good news is that Carolina used typical Greg Roman play calling and lost. Even Greg Roman is starting to get away from typical Greg Roman play calling!
Return to Forever is good stuff! I listened to it often in the late 70s and thru the 80s.
Can someone please tell me what was wrong with the Chiefs this year? They had an awesome team and were one and done. They had a great secondary with Flowers and Berry. They had great linebackers and their D line might be one of the best in the game. They had the best running back in the game with a good backup in Kniles Davis, and decent wide receivers in Bowe and Avery. Their head coach was tried and true. I just don’t get it. Why were they a first round, wild card exit? Let’s see…. what else am I missing here. Secondary…. check. Linebackers…. check. D line…. check. Running backs….. check. Wide receivers….. check. Oh yeah….. qb. Their qb sucked! That’s it! How could I forget. You really, really need one of those in the playoffs, don’t you? Kaep, Russell, Peyton and Brady? “Is it any wonder…. [Alex] got tooooooo much time on his hands……” EVERYBODY NOW!!!!!! ALEX GOT TOOOOOOO MUCH TIME ON HIS HANDS!!!! Good damn I hate that guy for one reason and one reason only…. he brought out the stupidity in the 49er fan base. Anyone who thought that guy was taking us to the promise land was stone cold stupid.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz……..
Like watching an Alex Smith highlight film…….zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz……….
He got us 2 2nd Rd Picks Spit.
Baalke made the best use of Cap dollars with a Trade that helped Alex, and SF, for the better.
Alex did enough to win that game vs Indy when all was said and done.
KCs Defense disappeared in crunch time.
Give credit to the Indy Coordinators for closing the door on them too.
Don’t forget, KC lost JCharles early in that matchup.
Dealt a major blow to their abilities to milk the clock when the running game came up empty.
With a 28 point lead, Andy Reid didn’t have many options to play ball control or, he chose not to.
Can’t put that on Alex.
Anyone who brings it up a year after the fact is a bona fide dumb fuck no-brained troll.
No luck trolling the Merc? Or did they ignore your endless blather?
My theory regarding the Roman Offense has been, one of taking small steps, toward a more diverse attack.
Early on, with limited options at WR, Roman had to adjust.
As Rookies became acclimated and, other options returned, he has been slowly working them all into the Plan.
Once you put your games on film, the elements of surprise are no longer to your advantage.
By using the deception game, with multiple formations and varying personnel, each guy learns his responsibilities.
Losing Bruce created a speed bump for VMcD.
Then, losing Tuk early yesterday, stymied our rhythm somewhat.
All that matters is, Roman doesn’t take a One-Size-Fits-All approach to the game.
I trust that he’ll have plenty of new wrinkles waiting for the right opportunities on Sunday.
Again, I’d be anxious to see QPat, LMJ and VMcD and perhaps Kassim Osgood, have some special plays added to their list of responsibilities in Seattle.
Patton has come around since his injuries. He’s made the plays asked of him and his block sprung Kappy on the TD run. Vance has made a few blocks, but he’s underwhelming. LMJ? I keep hoping they sketch out some plays for him.
Did we ever figure to see Tuk making a pass reception Chuck?
Roman plays the matchups game.
Tuk on a CB was master stroke no one saw coming.
Too bad he couldn’t deliver the blow and get a head of steam before the awkward tackle attempt did him in.
This game in Seattle is a sell out game.
All hands, every wrinkle in the arsenal, have to be available for this one.
Time for the Secret Playbook.
I’d expect to see that TE Screen play utilized a bit more too.
Take it to Sherm’s side and flatten that punk.
Yeah that was up there with weird plays of the year. The thing about it though is they finally are giving Kappy outlets when the downfield coverage is good. It can get you 12-15 yards as opposed to Kappy risking getting levelled.
Everyone keeps harping on Kappy;s inability to read and make his progressions, but I saw at least 3 plays where he looked off Keuchly to get the ball to Crabs and Boldin.
QPat is coming along.
VMcD is slow on the receiving trust list but, has been doing an excellent job in the blocking game, something he wasn’t known for at Rice.
He’s coming.
Gotta execute in the Noisey Kingdom Sunday.
Could Roman have a No Huddle Package prepared?
We have to take every shot we can for this one.
It’s about respect.
We all want to shut those 12th Step idiots up. Once and for all.
Nothing would sound better to me, than to here nothing at the CLink, when the game is over.
Kaep has been rattled up there.
Protections and audibles suffer.
Have to counter the advantage they gain with quick take offs at the snap.
They bust the plays before there’s a chance to develop them.
High time to break the streak of bad performances up there.
Doom for the Legion of Goons.
Ron Rivera and Shula Jr, got to the playoffs by calling Greg Roman plays then. They called their strength, we just beat them. We watch film, too.
The failed fourth down conversion try cost them nothing. We went three and out and they answered with a TD. It was a good gamble for the situation and football-stupid as Berger makes Rivera and Shula out they’ve made a living on it this year, and so has Roman, despite the flaming from his betters on the blogs.
Ron Rivera and Shula Jr, got to the playoffs by calling Greg Roman plays then. They called their strength, we just beat them. We watch film, too.
The failed fourth down conversion try cost them nothing. We went three and out and they answered with a TD. It was a good gamble for the situation and football-stupid as Berger makes Rivera and Shula out they’ve made a living on it this year, and so has Roman despite the flaming from his betters on the blogs.
fun stat of the day: Kap already has more career road playoff wins than Peyton. lqtm
Amazing that Manning has been so poor in the playoffs. Also amazing that Kap is doing so well on the road. I don’t think most fans appreciate how hard it is to win on the road in the playoffs, Niners are in a great position to get back to the dance BECAUSE of Kap, not inspite of him. Kid has been clutch.
Word! Well said.
Oh, and Flav, in regard to your question re Manning and Brady head to head.
It’s is 10-4 in favor of Brady.
NJ, I’m completely down with speeding up out game at the LOS. I think waiting til the clock runs down plays right into Seattle’s hands as they can get a hard jump off the line.
I also think that these last 3 road games have given the team a sense that they can win on the road, and can win up north. Score early and take them out. They get real quiet when down by 10.
Interesting stuff
http://tinyurl.com/n6qscvm
Yeah, I’ve said the same for a couple years now. And he misses one very big thing. Gore is one of the best blocking RBs in the history of the game. He has saved his QBs from decimation about 5,000 times. Something that always gets overlooked.
Just ask Steve Young if a solid blocking back is important. He plays 2-3 more years if not for Lawrence Phillips.
I asked during the last game “Why don’t the Niners have a hurry up Offense?” or better yet, No Huddle?
I think Harbaugh is too controlling to have a no Huddle, he wants to see how the D lines up.
I agree with that, Harbaugh trusts Harbaugh.
I wonder if it’s because of Kappy’s relatively few starts. I have no idea if he ran no-huddle at UNR but you’d think he did.
I can’t believe the Niners would not have a no-huddle offense of some sort. Doubt it would be much good, though, since even with a huddle, they can’t seem to get their plays off…
We do have one and it doesn’t work very well.
Yup. I just don’t understand why they feel the need to make it so difficult to get plays off. Using all the clock time makes shit worse. I think Seattle would be caught way off guard if the Niners could get plays off with 10-12 seconds on the play clock.