In the immortal words of Axl Rose, where do we go now? Or would you prefer Louis Burton Lindley, Jr. (aka Slim Pickens), who said, what in the wide wide world of sports is goin’ on here? The 49ers, fresh off their midseason break spent getting healthyed up and ready to make a serious push to the playoffs, instead lay one of the biggest turds on the newly christened Levis field since the Singletary days.
After crawling out to a 10-3 lead in the 2nd quarter, the 49ers went:
- punt
- fumble
- missed FG
- punt
- punt
- punt
- punt
- fumble
Not the best of days for Colin Kaepernick, with his holding the ball too long, not getting rid of the ball when pressured, not feeling pressure when it is coming for the back side, and getting strip-sacked again, and, of course the final fumble that he actually fumbled twice. Then again, what galls me even more is the lack of ANY adjustments made by the coaching staff. After giving up 6 sacks in the 1st half, did the Niners try to circumvent the pressure by designing quicker plays, and go away from the 5 and 7 step drops? Of course not. This has been a problem all year. Kappy rarely has time to throw a pass from a deep drop yet, under intense pressure from non-existent blocking across the entire O line, Kappy was sacked a total of 8 times. That’s a total of 14 in the last 2 games. By comparison, the ’71 Niners under John Brodie gave up a total of 16 all year. Yes, Kappy is holding the ball too long, and tries to use his athleticism, and it gets him into trouble.
But again, the team refuses to use plays that counteract blitzes. They threw TWO misdirection plays to Boldin that worked great. Naturally, they shied away from that play all day. One screen that gaind 5 yards, and one delay that gained 0. Like I said before the game, they refuse to exploit things that they find to work. The Rams had NO business being in this game, but the ineffective offense failed miserably all game.
The banged-up unit on the team, the defense again played spectacularly. Chris Borland, subbing for the ailing toe of Patrick Willis, had 18 tackles in a big day. Although he did blow the coverage on the TD. Austin Davis played terrible, threw 2 picks, and had a losing effort of a day. If not for the absolute wasteland of an offense. Throw in ONE mistimed 23 yard punt from the 5 and there you have it. Game over.
There are so many problems with this offense that it defies explanation in one thread.
Forty Niners Forever 
O line problems line up pretty well with losing O line coach Tim Drevno (sp?). Don’t know if that is it but it is quite a coincidence.
Rice thinks Harbaugh is a goner:
Not sure who you are talking about, 12th. Mike Solari has been the O line coach since 2010. He served under Bobb McKittrick back in the day.
Solari equally shared the O line coaching position with Tim Drevno until Drevno left.
This is very appropriate right about now:
Tim Drevno:
http://www.49ers.com/team/coaches/tim-drevno/116145b3-cfb5-4b3c-92cc-acaa5a0877d3
Drevno’s been gone all year, right? Took an OC job at some college or other?
The decision to placate Boone is where I fix most of the blame for the O-line not performing well. Boone’s been flat terrible as was his hold-out replacement. And Joe Looney has been terrible in spot duty.
Iupati isn’t here for his pass pro. And he hasn’t been the same as he was before he broke his fibula/ankle. Guards are generally people pushers and pullers in our run first system. I think, individually at least, Staley and Kilgore were doing pretty well. A TE or an RB can always help out a guard, but now with putting everyone on the line and out in the pattern there is no help. Add to that a new rookie center and a QB trying to take over a new offense and it’s not so surprising or out of line as it may seem. Certainly not the huge coaching crisis some of the more knee-jerk reactionaries would have it.
It was Kaepernick who graded out the worst of the offense against the Rams.
Yes he went to USC, same position, unusual move I thought at the time.
8 games in we are still talking about Boone’s holdout?
OL pass blocking grades: 2012 +2.6 2013 -3.6 2014 -25.0
Staley, Davis, Iupati have been average to horrible. Kilgore was the best of the bunch until he broke his leg, Martin was so-so but by no means the reason they gave up 8 sacks. That is 14 sack in the last 2 games and even when playing “well” the O line has not been overwhelming. Kap graded out worst? Shocker, at best one could lay blame on Kap for 1 sack, the other 7 and the innumerable hurries and pressures were on the O line which is generally put in a bad position by shitty play calling. Who the hell designs long winded plays when under intense 2 secs to QB pressure from multiple places?
NF you are consistently laying blame on the players for not executing and no doubt that plays its part, but some plays are not executable or have slim chance of success. Lets say a QB sneak in an absolutely packed box with a rookie zero experience center snapping to a jumpy QB who has run for his life all game for instance. Yes if it had worked we would be singing a different song but it didn’t did it and the post mortem points to an utterly stupid play call with a high probability of failure built in pre-snap.
As for no TE or RB to block because they are all out in the pattern, exaggerate much? What are they doing 5 wides every down?
There is and has been an underlying issue with this offense during the Harbaugh years. Dead last in RZ efficiency. Dead last in TD’s, first in FG, scored 1 TD in the fourth qtr all year and that was Blaine Gabbert in garbage time, one lousy TD in 8 games in the fourth and that was worthless.
Not sure just what it takes for you to see the obvious. Knee-jerk reactionaries? I would say the lynch mob has been amazingly restrained up till this point.
The real crux of it is who is really creating this pile of shit, Roman or Harbaugh and I don’t think any of us know.
How does a talented team like this come out from the bye week and play so poorly? How does the coaching staff justify yet another first drive time out after having 2 weeks to size up the opponent and script the plays?
Something wreaks in the exchange between players and coaches, as Steve Young and Trent Baalke both said this week, something is broken with this team.
This O stinks on ice and you only point to execution which is as believable as when Kap says it with his head bowed down at the podium.
Staley said it out loud, dumb schemes. Harbaugh says they all have fingerprints on it and yes they do but the hand on the tiller is his. His job is to make it work, period.
I tried to tell you people about Harbaugh years ago. He chose Alex Smith > Peyton Manning.
We should have lynched ’em right then and there.
Harbaugh didn’t choose anything, Manning chose and it looks like he chose wisely.
Harbaugh “chose” Alex because he wouldn’t give Peyton the keys to the Ferrari. Jimbo pushed him away. Harbaugh let his ego be his downfall — again.
How do you know this Dennis?
But that’s all in the past. The pertinent question and pressing problem is why hasn’t Harbaugh developed Kap any? He hasn’t got any better since the SB. And if you look at the numbers, he’s actually gotten worse.
Are fans going to make excuses for Kap like they did for Alex?
Even Manning couldn’t make a silk purse out of this sows ear, why are you expecting Kap to?
That sounds like an excuse to me. WTF is with you people and making excuses for all of our QBs? It’s OK to say they suck. Doesn’t make you any less a 49er fan. Just an informed honest one.
Del I’m starting to think Harbaugh isn’t the QB whisperer many of us thought he was.
I’m with you, Kaep isn’t much better now than the SB engagement.
What has been consistent, is the fact that we suck on Offense.
I’m not suckered into Kaeps’ stats either.
Give any QB time to throw and he’ll look tremendous on paper.
Rattle him, as many good D-COs have of late and, he’s pedestrian.
Connect the dots, as we’ve all been doing for years now and, we realize that Harbaugh/Roman cannot devise a passing game.
WRs look frustrated, with good reason, when the QB isn’t spreading the ball around with any consistency and, the running game is evaporating.
OLine issues can also be linked to protection assignments.
Get the calls wrong and chaos ensues.
I really think there is a major disconnect going on and may well have been going on for longer than we’ve realized.
We can’t score points with regularity and I agree with those that suggest Jim won’t budge on cutting ties with Roman.
I believe we’ve reached an impasse and the season is now on the brink of mutiny.
And if you think Manning wouldn’t make this offense better, you must still be high on all that sugar from your Halloween candy. Who do you think our OC would be? That’s right, Peyton effing Manning. What offense do you think we’d be running? That’s right again, the Peyton effing Manning offense he’s been orchestrating since Day 1. And if Roman and Harbaugh didn’t like it, Manning would tell ’em to go the fuck home.
Dennis, you are so full of shit, your breath is brown.
What has Peyton in Denver? Lost another Super Bowl, and another playoff game.
Christ, NoFear, you just post inane shit to get noticed. Kaepernick was the least of the problems last weekend. You love to point at execution, yet completely disregard situational football.
You say the 3 WR formtaions are losing games yet forget to notice we go back to the 21s in the red zone.
Whatever, pal. Delusions are hard to shake.
Chuck our D has covered a LOT of our Offensive futility since Harbaugh arrived.
When push comes to shove, Harbaugh/Roman can’t answer the bell for a reputable passing game.
Our QB is learning on the fly and I’m not sure Harbaugh can develop him AND a passing attack at the same time.
Maybe Andrew Luck made Harbaugh at Stanford rather than vice-versa?
I think Harbaugh’s too loyal to his Assistants to severe ties or try anything new too.
Things look to be coming to a head.
Once the guys in the locker room stop buying what he’s selling, the rest just gets uglier.
We’ll see who comes to play in NOLA on Sunday.
Ahmad Brooks is another guy I think has been mailing it in too.
Now we see reports of his services having been shopped at the Trade deadline.
I won’t be expecting much effort from him going forward.
Brooks certainly becomes expendable when Willis and Smith come back and with the development of Borland and Lynch.
I just don’t know what the hell is going on. I wanted to open things up a little bit like about 10,000,000 other people, but they’ve turned their back on the run way too much,
No continuity, no flow, no consistency. Red zone woes continue, I thought we were making progress, albeit limited, as we went along this year, but last game’s disaster blew everything out of the water. We have no room for error now. Go 4-5 after NO and we are looking at needing to go 7-0 to reach the playoffs. That ain’t gonna happen unless something drastic happens. Like dumping Roman and installing a much better passing attack.
All I hear from people who ought to know, is that our passing attack is rudimentary at best.
I think most of us here already knew that Chuck.
I’d prefer to see something more in line with a WCO-style of attack.
Harbaugh seems to prefer everything outside of the numbers and deep middle.
Takes too much time for many of those routes to develop, hence our QB running for his life way too often.
Shorter drops, quicker releases, shorter routes might be a good place to start?
Still boils down to a lack of creativity for me.
They’ve shown some glimpses of TE crossing routes and even attempted a dump off or 2 of late but?
We ain’t getting it done with any consistency obviously.
I only said that to point out to NoFear that the things we are saying here aren’t just imaginary ramblings, and that we aren’t talking out of our asses.
He bemoans the new offense as not providing results without realizing that we go back to the jumbo formations in the red zone. As has been noted here and everywhere else.
What annoys me is the misdirection plays to Boldin worked great, so naturally we did it twice. Do it til they stop it.
Harbaugh seems hell-bent to get his offense run his way at the cost of what works at any given time.
In conclusion the OFFENSE sucks. Red Zone is a no zone.
BLEEP Eff’n RIGHT Nipper!
Woof!
You guys want to insist it’s not Kaepernick’s fault when he plays like shit, just rewind the Alex tapes, it sounds just the same. Alex has proven to be nothing but a game manager despite having every opportunity to prove otherwise. Despite the slings and arrows from the illuminati. The same illuminati who sounded off in the same tones over Singletary’s hire and when I didn’t bow down in appropriate reverence of Harbaugh.
Guess what? When the defense sends eight rushers, five linemen can’t block them all. The QB is expected to know that, too. And either dump the ball off or throw it away to avoid the sack/hit/lost yardage.
Kaepernick threw some shitty balls under no pressure. The grade isn’t my imagination, it’s from Pro Football Focus grading of each play. You throw out o-line cumulative grades and scoff at Kaepernick’s from the same source?
He made some stupid decisions to hold the ball waiting for the deep man to clear his defender while he ignored shallow receivers wide open. He made some terrible throws and some not so good throws. Some under pressure, some not.
Plays that are designed for a deep route, and mid field stops or hooks and underneath dump offs and Kaepernick decides to go all or nothing for the deep guy it’s not the fault of the play design, it’s the fault of the QB when he holds the ball and takes a sack instead of five yards and maybe some YAC that is open for him.
I can’t explain the logic behind the sneak with the game on the line except that Harbaugh has a tendency to try to build Kaepernick’s confidence and that play could have been a risk designed to take the heat off Kaepernick’s bad play. I thought it was a mistake and a foolish one at that. I’ve never said coaches can’t and don’t make mistakes. Of course they do. But that doesn’t equate to taking the blame off players that play like shit.
Teams doing worse than we are have better o-lines and teams doing better have worse. The Pats’ O-line is worst of all.
You think blaming the coaching, the same coaching that has won more games than Bill Walsh in three years, is the feel good answer, go for it. It certainly requires less honest analyses. But as far as I can tell, they aren’t what’s wrong here.
Game manager. You and your dumb-ass labels. Who gives a fuck? Smith is winning in KC. I’m glad it eats you alive to see him successful.
Smith ran a shitty offense for 6 years. Now he’s doing fine. Musta been the execution. Let’s go look at the tape. It’s laughable, NoFear. Kappy’s not geting the benefit of a cogent offense.
By the time Kappy had taken his 6th sack, what adjustemnts did we make? NONE.
And Marcus Lattimore just retired.
Somewhere, Spitty is foaming at the mouth.
I want a new OC. No, I want a new HC. I want a new QB. I want a new TE.I want a stadium with fans that provides a HF advantage…
You’re blinded by your agenda. We sent two check downs a yard or two beyond the LOS on the first sack. Not one, two. TWO. What does that tell you about play design? Both were open. Kaepernick held the ball locking onto the deep option. That scenario repeats often and you keep saying we don’t do it because Kaepernick never takes that option.
Here’s some basic QBing for you. When you see the blitz is coming and it has more rushers than your protection can get blocked you take a three step drop and hit the check down or throw the ball away. That’s your job. Not to hold the ball, take the sack and blame the lousy blocking. The play caller can’t always predict what the defense is going to bring. Some of that goes to the QB.
Kap’s QBR is trending ↓ “It’s the coaching.” “Bad play calling.” The OL sucks.” “It’s a new system.” “They’re not putting him in a position to win.”
Where the fuck have I heard that before?
Might as well bring the other POS back. At least he makes for a better interview.
Yup, strike up the Alex Smith band. And cue the weeping women choir.
Oh how you miss Teflon Mike.
And, when the hell were we in the red zone against the Rams?
1st series ended with three plays on the STL 21. A two TE Gore run, empty set 5W INC to Boldin, and a single back 4W overthrown pass to 15 in the end zone.
The last series only the last two plays were using jumbo personnel in a tight formation and the play before the sneak was a sprint out trying to pas to Gore in the corner. The Rams covered it.
That play was preceded (from the STL5 and from the STL2.5) by 3WR personnel spread outside the numbers passes to Crabs.
Other than that?
The touchdown play was a play action out of a tight formation.
Any time we go into a tight formation that doesn’t work the same wailing commences. Damn the 30 spreads that failed.
The last drive, dipstick. We regluarly telegraph our plays.
Read what I wrote, shit for brains.
I’m interested to see if Lattimore is retiring from the NFL. Or is Marcus retiring from the 49ers? If he signs with a new team next year that’ll be another NO vote for Bo Schembechler Jr.™