Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the NFL is becoming a game not determined by the 22 men playing the game of football, but the 7 officials on the field enforcing the rules. This last offseason, it was determined by the league that physical cornerback play should be modified. Apparently, we can call this the Peyton Manning rule, as his Broncos were smothered by the big physical Seahawk corners. The contact area is still 5 yards, as before, but the difference is there is absolutely no contact allowed now. A hand check as a WR runs by draws a flag, whereas before, a certain amount of contact was allowed.
The other new fun rule being strictly enforced now is illegal use of hands. Plays in the trenches, and DBs on the line frequently get in the grill of the guy in front of them to gain leverage. It was usually ignored, unless fairly blatant, like seeing the helmet pop off.
The biggest warning sign of the flag-fest we now see came during the 2014 preseason, when there were 97 illegal contact penalties, 165 defensive holding calls, and 212 illegal use of hands penalties. Now compare those numbers to 10, 39 and 28, respectively from last year’s preseason, and you’ll see why there is a huge outcry among coaches, players and fans about the flag-fest.
This issue is even more relevant now because some teams are seemingly targeted for these penalties, while other teams don’t get called. In the Seattle/Denver game, Wes Welker was blasted to kingdom come on the late interception. He was a ‘defenseless WR’ who got blasted with a hit where the DB left his feet to hit him high. No call. In the Chicago/Jets game, the Jet WR catches the ball, takes 2 steps, and gets blasted at the goal line on a shoulder-to-shoulder hit. The ref calls it hitting a defenseless WR. Huh?
The 49ers have had countless penalties called on them. None more terrible than the illegal use of hands vs Chicago on a 3rd and 9 from Chicago’s 21 yard line. The penalty was very minor. Very ticky-tack. But it altered the course of the game. Even worse, the Niners held Chicago to another 4th down on the same drive, only to get a 5 yard illegal contact penalty.
The problem is these minor infractions result in automatic 1st downs. The Bears got 7 1st down on penalties. And this doesn’t even address the wildly inconsistent personal foul rules that the 49ers have been dinged with. Anquan Boldin’s head-butt was stupid, but is that equal to blasting a QB with your helmet? Chris Culliver’s taunting call appeared to me to be Cully standing up too fast. Stupid ticky tacky calls, but this is the new NFL. Don’t play with emotion, or heart, or have fun, or celebrate a TD, or you will be penalized and possibly fined.
Which brings me to replay. The hit by Dan Skuta on Drew Stanton was a big hit that was vicious, and brutal. But, it was legal. Stanton hadn’t reached the ground. He was just starting to slide as Skuta came in for the hit. Due to the violent nature of it, he was flagged. On the very next play, Patrick Willis comes in amid a bunch of blockers and hits Stanton as he’s releasing the ball. Willis has his head up and does not use the crown of his helmet. A clean hit on the QB. He’s flagged for a personal foul. 2 blown calls. 30 free yards for AZ. I know we will get an apology from the league saying “Ooops. They got it wrong.” So, I suppose we will restart the game from that point in time. Right. Just like the NO game last year that ended up costing the 49ers home field. Gee, did that blown call change anything?
These egregious blown calls should be reviewable. Why? Because they alter the games and seasons. Will it drag out the length of games? Probably a little, but who gives a shit! The LEAGUE mandates 3 minute commercial breaks on every change of possession, every punt, every kickoff, and every turnover so we can get our fill of beer and boner pill commercials. Or that stupid-ass Geico lizard. Besides, if the games went on 15 miunutes longer, who would care? Not the fans. Shouldn’t it be about making the right call instead of flagging every goddamned play?
Forty Niners Forever 
Right. Once AZ spied on Kappy, the read-options stopped working, and the passing game went to shit as well. Although penalties killed drives as well. What I don’t understand is the complete lack of running. Even with the leads we’ve had.
This game won’t keep us out of the playoffs if we lose, but it’ll make it a real tough road to get there. Not to mention the locker room tension that may or may not exist.
Gotta break out in this one.
Philly can be had IMO.
Rookie Center. 1st start.
An average Defense vs a pissed off 9er Team.
9ers. Going away.
It sure wouldn’t hurt for Kaep to throw a guy open once in awhile either.
He’s all about sticking a throw I think.
Frozen ropes are fine on many routes but, laying a ball out in front comes with the territory too.
He’s tried a few, usually deep seam stuff.
I still think his touch passes are lacking.
Year 3 for him. Hoping the light brightens.
Several of his throws to Stevie last week were on crossers.
Again, good to see.
Another guy I’m hoping to see progress from is SS LJ McCray.
I have a feeling he’s the understudy to Bethea.
One thing I liked about him coming into the Draft this year was his KR ability.
Something we haven’t tried with him yet.
Be nice if Baalke hits on this kid.
He came very cheap and has some upside.
SAFETIES
1. LJ McCray, Catawba
The Catawba product didn’t get all the hype because of Danny O’Brien showing up and his missed tackles on tape didn’t help him but he did very well at his pro day and showed at 6’0, 210 pounds with 4.5 speed that he has the tools to be a quality special teamer and play either safety spot. McCray has been first-team All-SAC each of the last two years as a return man and did earn first-team honors at safety with 78 tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss. If he improves as a tackler and shows the athleticism from his workouts on tape then he could be a real steal in the 7th round or as an undrafted free agent.
Speaking of adjustments.
I read that AZ had 9 guys on Defense, and still managed to block our FG.
Had we caught that and run a play, we had a distinct advantage, short of having the ST guys out there.
Can’t recall the down and distance but, we got pretty backed up at that point with our boneheaded penalty parade.
It was 3rd and 23.
Interesting perspective from Gutierrez at ESPN from the AZ game –
Not even blitzes were working against the Cardinals, as the Niners brought it on 14 of 40 pass plays, including plays wiped out by penalty; the Niners also rushed six players three times and twice they brought seven, per PFF.
The Niners, who did not blitz a defensive back at all in Weeks 1 and 2, sent Jimmie Ward seven times and Perrish Cox four times.
Blitzing that much against the Eagles might be playing into their hands.
Anyone happen to notice that last weeks’ game between KC and Miami was a late start?
Miami at home, Eastern Time Zone, starts at 4PM?
Talk about bias.
When 9ers play here in the East it’s always a 1PM ET start.
Gave a lay up to KC last week and, they came from the Mid West.
BS.
They should make the East Coast road teams visiting us play at 1PM ET.
Spit here’s a NT to watch for the next NFL Draft –
Let me know what you think of Danny Shelton from Washington, 6’2″ 332.
I never see much of the West Coast College games out here so, you tell me….
Read that he’s a 2-gapper with 7 sacks already.
Need to know if he’s productive against the run.
Scout on young Jedi.
It didn’t look to me like we blitzed that much, but I guess AZ picked it up very well. I saw the 7 man blitz that was called back by some dumb-ass shit.
I could be wrong of course, but this season may just be a waste of time. The magic is gone. It started with the lousy turf and went downhill from there. The team plays dumb with foolish penalties. Even the vets are falling off. The Niners are a DUI or a head butt away from a real crummy season.
Your dauber is down, Nippy?
New thread is up.